Report No. 7. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

FIBER INVESTIGATIONS. 



TS 

XL(o 




A REPORT 



THE CULTIVATION OF RAMIE 



THE UNITED STATES, 



STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE PRACTICE IN FOREIGN* COUNTRIES, 

COST OF CULTIVATION AND PERCENTAGES OF YIELD, THE 

MACHINE OUESTICN, AND PREPARATION OF 

THE FIBER FOR MANUFACTURE. 



CHAS. RICHARDS DODGE, 
SPECIAL AGENT. 





WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1895. 




Class 



BooL,?X k 



Report No. 7, Office Fiber Investigations 




Ramie— Dried Stalks, raw Fiber, degummed Fiber, and Manufactures. 



Report No. 7. 



I 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FIBER INVESTIGATIONS. 



A REPORT 



~">y>;> 



THE CULTIVATION OF RAMIE 



THE UNITED STATES, 



STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE PRACTICE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES, 

COST OF CULTIVATION AND PERCENTAGES OF YIELD, THE 

MACHINE QUESTION, AND PREPARATION OF 

THE FIBER FOR MANUFACTURE. 



CHAS. RICHARDS DODGE, 

SPECIAL AGENT. 




WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

18 95. 






£4-' 



LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 

Office of Fiber Investigations, 

Washington, D. C, April 1, 1895. 
Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith the manuscript for Report 
No. 7 of the Fiber Investigations series, on the cultivation of ramie in 
the United States. The publication of this report is important at this 
time in view of the fact that there is great inquiry for reliable infor- 
mation regarding this promising textile plant, and also because the 
literature of the subject is meager as it relates to the practical consid- 
erations of culture, cost of establishing plantations, and possible yields 
of fiber. The Department publications on this subject were issued 
several years ago, since which time the situation has changed materi- 
ally, and on many points the existing literature is now behind the 
times. In the present report, therefore, the aim has been to tell the 
whole story of ramie, the discouraging features of the industry as well 
as its possibilities, in order that farmers desiring to take up its culture 
may do so understandingly. 
I am, respectfully, 

Chas. Richards Dodge, 
Special Agent, in Charge of Fiber Investigations. 

Hon. J. Sterling Morton, 

Secretary. 

3 



CONTENTS. 



Introductory 7 

Recent history of the ramie industry 8 

What is ramie ? 10 

Botanical considerations and habitat 10 

Commercial nses 11 

Foreign culture 12 

Cultivation in China 12 

Cultivation in India 13 

Cultivation in France 14 

Ramie culture in the United States 14 

Soil and climate 15 

Enriching the soil 16 

Soil preparation 19 

Planting the roots 20 

Irrigation 23 

Cost of ramie cultivation 24 

French experience 25 

Experience in the United States 26 

Figures of the Department of Agriculture 28 

Harvesting ramie 28 

French practice 29 

The dry system of decortication 30 

Selection of the stalks 30 

Necessity for an even growth of stalks 31 

Estimates of yield 31 

Ramie i n France 32 

Yield for different countries 33 

Experiments of Charles Riviere 35 

The possible American yield 35 

Extracting the fiber 37 

The machine problem 37 

Two classes of machines 38 

Results of machine trials 39 

American machines 41 

After-processes and manufacture 42 

Degumming 42 

Difference in cost of degumming machine and hand cleaned fiber 43 

Foreign manufacturing establishments 45 

Uses of the fiber in manufacture 47 

Manufacture without chemical treatment 49 

A word to farmers 50 

Appendix A. — The ramie machine trials of 1892 51 

Appendix B. — The ramie machine trials of 1894 57 

5 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PLATES. 



Ramie stalks, fiber, and manufactures Frontispiece 

Page. 

I. One season's growth, District of Columbia : 10 

II. Stalks ready for cutting 22 

III. Stalks showing second growth 22 

IV. Machine and hand cleaned fiber 43 

FIGURES. 

1. Planting roots before subdivision 19 

2. Showing crown roots 20 

3. Diagram showing Texas method of setting ramie roots 21 

4. Clusters of flower racemes i 24 

5. Forbes digester 46 

6. Textile Syndicate decorticator -- 58 

7. Allison machine, No. 2 61 

6 



CULTIVATION OF RAMIE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

A little over four years ago Report No. 1 of the Fiber Investigations 
series was given to the public. In that document appeared two reports 
upon the subject of ramie, the first relating to the international 
trials of ramie machines held in Paris during September, 1889, and the 
second to a presentation of the status of the ramie question at thajb 
time. In the former report an account was given of the official trials 
of 1889, with tables showing the capacity of the different machines 
themselves. In the second chapter the entire situation was reviewed, 
with full statements as to the obstacles and difficulties which had beset 
the industry andx>reveuted the culture of ramie from becoming remu- 
nerative to the agriculturist in this and other countries. A great deal 
of the testimony presented was discouraging, yet it was shown that 
something definite had been accomplished; that progress was being 
made each year, and that ultimate success seemed possible, if not prob- 
able. A year later Eeport No. 2 was issued by this Department, imme- 
diately following the extensive trials in Mexico, though at that time, 
while some ground had been gained in the world's experience, no great 
progress of a practical nature could be recorded. 

In the past two years more substantial progress has been made m 
several directions. While it can not be stated authoritatively that the 
m-achine problem has been solved, an advance in machine construction 
may be recorded, and several promising new machines have made their 
appearance. The manufacturing side of the industry has received a 
considerable impetus, both at home and abroad, and a renewed interest 
in culture has been awakened, especially .in the United States. All 
this has resulted in a large correspondence with the Department, the 
special inquiries relating to every phase of the industry from soil selec- 
tion and culture to the machine question and manufacture. It is impor- 
tant, therefore, to bring the story down to date, to show wherein 
the situation has been changed, and to supplement the brief statements 
regarding cultivation and the purely agricultural phases of the industry, 
as presented in former reports,, with a full account of the requirements 
of successful culture, as well as an outline of the practice involved. 

7 



8 

In carrying out this scheme it is the intention to deal only with facts, 
and to consider the various phases of the industry from the standpoint 
of practical result; in other words, to tell the truth about ramie, so far 
as recorded experience will aid us or so far as truth may be sifted from 
the chaos of misstatement and misinformation that has involved a large 
part of its literature in our own country, especially the newspaper 
literature of the past few years. 

For the sake of comparison, statements relating to the practice and 
experience of foreign countries are included, though in no instance 
without a reference to the authority, in order that the account may be 
verified if desired. The results of experience in the United States 
have been presented only after careful examination, and' statements of 
individuals given with full credit; the world's literature of the subject 
has been consulted, and the correspondents of the Department, in two 
hemispheres, have aided in the work. 

In all the statements regarding the ramie interest the Department 
has taken a conservative position, appreciating the great harm that is 
liable to be done any new industry by claiming for it results yet to be 
proven by practical experience. On some points authoritative state- 
ments concerning the ramie interest can not be made until a commercial 
experiment has been carried out, under expert direction, upon a con- 
siderable area, and running over a series of years; and then only when 
the fiber produced has been carefully tested in manufacture. In this 
connection the writer desires to express his conviction that the appro- 
priation of public funds for any experiments under the direction of 
professional promoters is to be deprecated, experience proving that the 
mere organizer of stock companies is lacking in the practical knowledge 
requisite for success. 

RECENT HISTORY OF THE RAMIE INDUSTRY. 

The active interest in rhea began in 1869, when a reward of £5,000 
was offered by the Government of India for the best machine with 
which to decorticate the green stalks. The first exhibition and trial of 
machines took place in 1872, resulting in utter failure. The reward 
was again offered, and in 1879 a second official trial was held, at which 
ten machines competed, though none filled the requirements, and subse- 
quently the offer was withdrawn. The immediate result was to stimu- 
late invention in many countries, and from 1869 to the present time 
inventors have been interesting in their efforts to produce a successful 
machine. The commercial history of ramie, therefore, does not extend 
further back than 1869. 

The first records of Chinese shipments of fiber to European markets 
show that in 1872 200 or 300 tons of the fiber were sent to London, 
valued at £80 per ton, or about $400. India also sent small shipments, 
but there was a light demand and prices fell to £30 to £40 per ton for 
Chinese and £19 to £30 for the India product. In a letter from 



Messrs. Ide & Christie, the London fiber brokers, discussing the point 
of demand and supply, received in 1890, it was stated that ramie rib- 
bons had at no time been shipped to Europe from any country in large 
quantity. Three hundred or 400 tons during the preceding five years 
would represent the maximum quantity brought from China, while 
India and other producing countries had sent little more than sample 
lots and trial parcels. The largest lot of ramie ever received at any 
one time was in October, 1888, when 120 to 130 tons of ribbons were 
offered in the London market. There was nothing like competition for 
it, and it was sold for £8 to £9, less than half what it cost in China. 

Experiments in manufacture in England date back to the sixties, 
and as early as 1866 the Glover Museum of the Department, which 
occupied two rooms in the basement of the Patent Office, possessed a 
series of beautiful ramie fibers and fabrics of English manufacture. 
There were difficulties, however, in the way of preparing the fiber and 
in adapting machinery for spinning it that made these processes too 
costly, and a ier fortunes had been wasted the effort was abandoned. 

Eamie seed is said by Favier to have been first introduced into 
France in 1836, and in 1844 plants were brought from China by the 
surgeon of the war ship Favorite which were grown in the acclimating 
gardens. While one writer claims that the plant was first brought to 
the gardens of Europe in 1733, Favier states that Dr. Fras cultivated 
the plant in the botanical gardens of Munich in 1850, and that it was 
grown in Belgium in 1860. 

Our own introduction dates back to 1855, but the records seem to 
show that it did not obtain a foothold in Mexico until 1867, the year, 
by the way, in which the first American ramie machine was brought 
to public attention. It is interesting to note that the first shipment of 
plants into France, in considerable number, was from America, 10,000 
plants having been imported for distribution in France and Algiers in 
1868. From this time, or a little later, its spread to many other coun- 
tries was rapid, until now there is hardly a country on the earth where 
it will grow that has not experimented with cultivation and with the 
machine question. 

The first French official trials took place in 1888, followed by the 
trials of 1889, in Paris, at which the writer was present, and which are 
recorded in Report No. 1 of the Fiber Investigations series. Another 
trial was held in 1891, and in the same year the first official trials in 
America took place, in the State of Vera Cruz, in Mexico, followed the 
next year by the first official trials of American machines in the United 
States; these being followed by the trials of 1894, just closed. 

Of the history of the experiments in cultivation in the United States 
it is not necessary to speak, as the principal attempts at cultivation 
are recorded or referred to in the reports already published; nor is it 
necessary to give more than a passing mention to the machine question 
in America, historically considered. 



10 

The first American ramie machine made its appearance over twenty- 
seven years ago in New Orleans, and was patented by Dr. Benito Eoezl 
in September, 1867. In the circular of the manufacturers of the decor- 
ticator it was stated that the extraction and cleaning of the fiber from 
the stalks was light work and the operation simple, "one machine 
being sufficient to gin the crops of several large plantations." When 
we learn that only a small handful of stalks could be cleaned a few feet 
at a time, as they were held against the revolving knives, and that 
when cleaned for half their length the fiber was withdrawn and the 
stalks reversed to clean the opposite ends, it will be readily seen how 
fallacious was the inventor's claim. It is said that hundreds of the 
machines were manufactured, and the circulars of the makers were 
widely distributed, but in spite of the alluring statements that three 
and four crops of ramie could be produced annually, giving 600 to 800 
pounds of fiber per acre worth 60 cents a pound in London, and with 
less care in cultivation than is given to cotton, the machines remained 
unsold, and the new industry failed to mature. 

Since that time probably a score of American machines have been 
invented, many of which were never brought to a field trial. The 
writer has examined many of the machines, and seen the best of them 
in operation, and recently, while in New Orleans, saw the wrecks of a 
number of the earlier machines in a " graveyard" of past ramie decor- 
ticators on the grounds of Mr. S. B. Allison. 

Those who may be interested in pursuing the subject of ramie 
machines, past and present, will find interesting descriptions, with dia- 
gram figures, in the two volumes of the work Traite Scientifique et 
Industriel des Plantes Textiles, by Filicien Michotte, engineer, Paris, 
1891 and 1893. Office Technique, 21 Bue Conderet. 

The later French machines and those of American invention are 
described or referred to in the publications of the Office of Fiber Inves- 
tigations, so the subject need be pursued no further. 

WHAT IS RAMIE? 

Bamie, rhea, or China grass, Bcehmeria nivea, is a perennial shrub 
belonging to the Urticacece, or nettle family of plants. Its native 
names are: Tchou-Ma, China; Mao, Japan; Caloee, Siam and Sumatra; 
Kankhura, Bengal; Ehea, Assam; Poah, Nepal; Goun, Burmah, and 
many others. 

BOTANICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND HABITAT. 

It is claimed to be indigenous in India, and probably also in China. 
From time immemorial it has been cultivated iu China, and has long 
been grown for its fiber in Japan, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and the 
East Indies, and it was introduced into cultivation in the warmer, tem- 
perate, and subtropical portions of North and South America, Europe, 
and Africa. In the United States it has been grown chiefly in the 
Gulf States and in California, though it has been experimented with 



Report No. 7, Office Fiber Investigations. 



Plate I. 




Ramie-One Season's Growth in District of Columbia, 1894. 



11 

in cultivation as far north as New Jersey. The plant can not stand 
frost, and while it may be grown outdoors in some situations north of 
the Gulf States, it will not mature its two crops, and its growth is 
uncertain. Mr. -R. W. Smith, superintendent of the United States 
Botanic Garden, considers the District of Columbia the northern limit 
of growth botanically speaking; but its commercial cultivation, in 
this locality or in Maryland or Virginia, is out of the question, for 
only in particularly favorable years will the plant make a satisfactory 
growth, and even then but a single crop, of doubtful quality of fiber, 
will be possible. In 1894 the entire season's growth of the little plat 
at the Botanic Garden was barely 3 feet (see PI. I), and the clusters 
of flower racemes had not begun to mature their seed on the 1st of 
November. Its cultivation northward from the District of Columbia, 
as in the State of New Jersey, as has been recently suggested, must 
be set down as a mere vagary. (See cultivation in India, page 13.) 

The severity of the past winter in the South has given opportunity 
to study the effect of cold upon fiber plants, and some interesting 
facts have been demonstrated. Regarding the effect of the February 
storm upon ramie in Louisiana, Mr. S. B. Allison writes as follows : 

The heavy snow that hegan falling February 14 and continued until February 16, 
at which time the thermometer reached from 15° to 18° below freezing, did not 
injure the stand of ramie in the least, and I have a letter from Mr. F. Natho, of Texas, 
stating the same facts. I returned yesterday from a visit to Captain Willet's field, 
and lind his ramie in fine condition. Half of my ramie at the present time will 
average 12 inches; Captain Willet's, on a sandy land, will average 18 inches, and on 
his black land about the same as mine. 

From this it will appear that the plants in southern sections will 
stand a considerable degree of cold for a short period, although they 
will not stand the continued cold of a more northern winter climate. 
In the grounds of the Department of Agriculture they are among the 
first plants to show the effect of the late fall frosts, although the roots 
covered with manure survived the severe cold of the past winter. 

The Boehmerias are an extensive genus, some fourteen species being 
recognized in India, many of which produce fiber of greater or less 
value. B. maerophylla is particularly mentioned as yielding a fiber 
much prized in Nepal for fishing nets, and B. maldbarica is used for the 
same purpose in Ceylon. B. platyphylla, var. ha miltoniq, produces a 
fiber adapted to the manufacture of strong cordage. B. candicans and 
B. tenaeissima, which, by some writers, have been regarded as distinct 
species, but which are given as varieties of B. nivea in the Dictionary 
of the Economic Products of India, will not be considered in the pres- 
ent work, B. nivea being of chief importance as furnishing the ramie or 
China grass, of commerce. 

COMMERCIAL USES. 

The fiber of ramie is strong and durable, is of all fibers least affected 
by moisture, and from these characteristics must take first rank in 
value as a textile substance. It has three times the strength of Bus- 



12 

sian hemp, while its filaments can be separated almost to the fineness 
of silk. In manufacture it has been spun on various forms of textile 
machinery, also used iu connection with cotton, wool, and silk, and can 
be employed as a substitute in certain forms of manufacture for all of 
these textiles and for flax also, where elasticity is not essential. It like- 
wise produces superior paper, the fineness and close texture of its pulp 
making' it a most valuable bank-note paper. In England, France, Ger- 
many, Austria, and in our own country to an experimental extent, the 
fiber has also been woven into a great variety of fabrics, covering the 
widest range of uses, such as lace, lace curtains, handkerchiefs, cloth, or 
white goods resembling fine linen, dress goods, napkins, table damask, 
table covers, bedspreads, drapery for curtains or lambrequins, plush, and 
even carpets and fabrics suitable for clothing. The fiber can be dyed in 
all desirable shades or colors, some examples having the luster and bril- 
liancy of silk. In China and Japan the fiber is extracted by hand labor; 
it is not only manufactured into cordage, fish lines, nets, and similar 
coarse manufactures, but woven into the finest and most beautiful 
of fabrics. 

The specific gravity of ramie yarn is less than that of linen yarn in the ratio of 6 
to 10, so that 1 kilogram linen yarn No. 10 measures 6,000 meters, while the same 
weight of ramie yarn measures 10,000 meters. This peculiarity lessens the apparent 
difference in the price of the two yarns. On the other hand, ramie yarn is heavier 
than cotton in the ratio of 6 to 5. Ramie yarn is easily distinguishable from other 
yarns by its high luster and silky appearance, in which it excels linen and cotton; 
ramie fibers are distinguished from all other fibers by their great length, usually 
from 10 to 15 centimeters (often 25 to 40 centimeters and more), by a certain straight- 
ness and stiffness, and by the considerable breadth of from 0.04 to 0.06 millimeters 
(flax 0.016, cotton 0.014 to 0.024. silk 0.009 to 0.029). (Dr. Hassack.) 

FOREIGN CULTURE. 

China is at present the source of supply of the raw product. The 
plant is cultivated almost exclusively in the basin of the Yangtze River, 
central China. Kiangsi, Hupeh, and Szechuen, provinces lying between 
30°]n\ latitude and 100° and 115° E. longitude, are the principal districts. 
Hankow and Kiukiang are the shipping ports. 

CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 

Regarding Chinese practice, United States Consul H. W. Andrews 
makes the following statements: 

The soil on which it is grown is red clay, with sand mixed iu. The means of 
propagation with the Chinese is to dig up the roots in the fall, separate them in 
small bunches, and replant. The plants are cut three times each year — in May, 
August, and October. The first crop is longer iu fiber and better in quality than the 
latter two. The preparing of the plant is all done by hand labor by the farmer. 
After cutting, it is put into water and rotted — same treatment as with hemp; then it 
is beaten with a flail and broken, the bark being carried off with water. 

From this point there are two processes of working. The light-colorea grass — 
that is to say, the commercial forms that are used in the manufacture of grass 
cloth — is dried over a charcoal fire, while the darker form — used for fishing nets 



13 

and cordage — is sun dried. A medium grade is used for sewing twine, and a very 
crude form, sometimes exported, is the raw state of the third cutting, merely dried 
with the hark intact. The hest fiher is not exported, heing too high priced. 
The Chinese say the ditference in color of the liber is owing to the different locations 
and soils in which it is grown. This, however, the foreigners here seem to doubt; 
they lay it to the process of drying after the bark has been washed away, whether 
dried with charcoal, as in the case of the light-colored, or sun-dried, as in the 
darker. The yarn for weaving cloth is all prepared by hand, and they have no diffi- 
culty in working it. 

According to a Chinese work published half a century ago, a light, 
sandy garden soil is chosen when the plants are to be propagated from 
seed 5 and when there is no garden, a piece of ground is secured near a 
river or a well. When the young plants are 3 inches high they are trans- 
ferred to a stiffer, thoroughly prepared soil, and watered every five 
days during the first three or four weeks. This, at least, was the old 
Chinese practice. In the present day the soil usually chosen in China 
is a red clay "with sand mixed in," and the plantation is established 
with roots dug from old plats in the fall. 

CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 

This statement is compiled from the Dictionary of the Economic 
Products of India, and from No. 18, Records Government of India 
Revenue and Agricultural Department. The plant thrives in almost 
any soil, though preference should be given to rich, light, sandy loam, 
well worked and sufficiently shady. In the Kangra district u a rich 
loam suits the plants best, but they will grow in any soil, provided a 
full supply of moisture is available, combined with thorough drainage." 
In the rainy season, in swampy or retentive lands, the plants decay in 
a very short time. There should be a good subsoil, as the roots pene- 
trate 12 to 14 inches in search of moisture. In dry seasons irrigation 
is necessary. 

The best climate for profitable culture is one which will promote the 
greatest growth of stems, Avith the greatest number of annual cuttings 
and largest yield of fiber; in other words, a tropical (or semitropical) 
climate, with a moist atmosphere and fairly good rainfall. The land, if 
not rich, should be manured, plowed to a considerable depth, and 
tilled lightly to remove weeds. Furrows 3 feet apart are made to 
receive the cuttings or roots. In the Kangra report it is stated that 
the root s are set 6 inches deep at the full distance of 4 feet apart each 
way. This distance will give 3,000 plants to the acre. Mr. James 
Montgomery says : 

After the first two years of cultivation the plants may well remain undisturbed 
for four years, hoeing well between after each crop, clearing away weeds, irrigating 
moderately during the dry season, and supplying manure where necessary. The 
only manure I had at command has been vegetable, consisting mainly of the leaves 
and wood portion of the plant itself, and of tree and vegetable leaves stored up for 
the purpose, with which I mix a considerable amount of wood ashes. With the aid 
of this only I have kept plants growing in the same spot for upward of six years, 



14 

but consequent on the then very crowded state of the ground the stems were short 
and very weak. I would therefore recomrueud a thorough removal after four years, 
the land to he then well plowed, cleaned, and manured. 

George Watt recommends as the most favorable manures those that 
contain nitrate of soda, sea salt, and lime. Regarding the time to 
harvest, Mr. Watt states that experience is necessary to decide this. 
Care should be taken to effect the cutting before the plant becomes 
covered with a hard or woody bark, this being indicated by the green 
skin turning brown, starting at the base. The crop of cuttings may 
be taken if, by passing the hand down the stem of the plant, the leaves 
break off crisply. 

CULTIVATION IN FKANCE. 

Mr. Favier, who has considered every phase of the ramie industry in 
France, from the preparation of the ground to the manufacture of the 
finished fiber into the most beautiful fabrics, states that the proper 
lands for this culture, which must have a deep soil, are the silico-calca- 
reous and the sandy alluvial witli a permeable subsoil. "As a general 
rule, a soil is very favorable to the culture of ramie when the dominant 
element is siliceous or sandy, without being pure sand. The lighter and 
more friable and permeable the soil, the more productive Avill be the 
ramie." Toobe says that marshy, boggy land that is clayish, salted, or 
compact should be avoided. Favier considers irrigation necessary. All 
experiments in arid and dry land without irrigation have given no 
practical results. Six months before planting, the soil should be turned 
to a depth of 40 centimeters (or about 10 inches) that the subsoil may 
be subjected to the action of the atmosphere. When the soil is very 
mellow two or three good plowings lengthwise and crosswise should 
suffice, to be performed two months before the roots are planted. 

The planting in Egypt, Algeria, and Spain is done from the end of 
October to April. In France the most suitable time is from March to 
the middle of May. Mr. Favier says : 

The leveling being well established, there are traced farrows about 15 centimeters 
in depth and 20 centimeters wide, with a space of 70 centimeters between. 1 In 
these furrows the plants are placed upright against the slope of the furrow on the 
south side by preference, and 30 centimeters apart, alternating with the adjoining 
rows, and then they are covered so as to leave their to|>s level with the ground, or 
lightly covered to about 1 or 2 centimeters in depth, if there is fear of late frost. 
The earth which serves for covering is taken from the side of the furrow by scoop- 
ing out the irrigating trench. We intend by this alternating to establish a planta- 
tion in the quincuucial form, each plant being placed opposite on an open space in 
the next line. The plantation is thus arranged in ridges, or " billows," and chan- 
nels. A "billow," in agricultural parlance, is a strip of earth raised between two 
trenches or channels. 

RAMIE CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Assuming that it is time to interest ourselves in culture, if it be only 
experimental culture, a knowledge of all the conditions of successful 



1 Equivalent to rows about 27 inches apart, with the plants nearly 1 foot apart in 
the row. 



15 

growth is essential in order to make the right start. Until the ramie 
grower has acquired experience of his own, he must necessarily be 
guided by the experience of others, and as too much of the past Ameri- 
can literature of the ramie question has been misleading, because the 
ground has been indifferently covered, and the writers on the subject 
have too often shown carelessness in their deductions, the writer will 
endeavor, in the pages which follow, to confine himself to facts. And 
these facts will be presented in the form of brief statements based upon 
the actual results of intelligent experiment, not only in our own country 
but in different portions of the globe w T here ramie has been seriously 
studied. 

SOIL AND CLIMATE. 

In general terms it may be said that the ramie plant requires a hot, 
moist climate, with no extremes of temperature, and a naturally ricb, 
damp, but never a wet, soil, the necessary moisture to be supplied by 
frequent rains or by irrigation; in other words, such a climate and 
soil that, when the growing season has commenced, the growth will be 
rapid and continuous. In the United States the best localities, so far 
as experiment has determined, are portions of Florida, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, and Texas, on the Gulf, and central California, on the Pacific 
Coast. The other Gulf States, doubtless, will prove equally favorable 
to this culture when more extensive experiments have been undertaken 
than are now recorded. Regarding the northern limit of commercial 
culture it is difficult to make positive statements. The plant thrives 
in South Carolina, and it is fair to suppose that two annual crorjs are 
possible, though the quality and yield of the fiber can only be ascer- 
tained to a certainty by careful tests of the product of both crops. 

In the Gulf States ramie has been grown experimentally in a great 
variety of soils, from the light sandy uplands to the rich black lands 
of the Louisiana bottoms, though light, sandy, alluvial soils have 
always given the best results. In California deep alluvial, sandy, or 
loamy lands which, when well prepared, will hold their moisture through 
the growing season, or that can be irrigated, are most commonly selected. 
Any good soil that will produce other crops is recommended, particu- 
larly if well prepared, or that holds its moisture through the growing 
season, or which can be irrigated. Dr. Hilgard, director of the Cali- 
fornia Agricultural Experiment Station, says: 

It is hardly necessary to remind any intelligent farmer that only strong soils can 
be expected to produce in one season one crop of 10 tons of stalks of any kind, and 
that few can continue to produce such crops for many years without substantial 
returns to the land, no matter how fertile originally. Among the strongest soils in 
the State are those containing more or less of " alkali," and as these are mostly 
valley lands, the question of their adaptation to ramie culture is important. Experi- 
ments have shown that, while ramie is a little more sensitive to alkali, it will stand 
all but the strongest spots, provided the alkali is not of the ''black" kind, viz, car- 
bonate of soda. The main reason why ramie will grow in alkali ground is the same 
as in the case of alfalfa — because it shades the ground, and hence the evaporation, 
going on through the leaves of the plants instead of at the surface of the soil, will 
not accumulate the noxious salts around the root crowns so as to corrode them. 



16 

ENRICHING THE SOIL. 

In all countries where ramie has been grown commercially or experi- 
mentally the necessity for heavily enriching the soil by the application 
of the farm manures or chemical fertilizers is emphasized, for successful 
ramie culture is an impossibility on impoverished land. 

Mr. Forbes Watson's researches in this direction have been exhaust- 
ive, and he considers that the importance attached by the Chinese to 
careful manuring of the crop is explained by the large quantity of min- 
eral matters contained in the stems, and that ramie is an exhaustive 
crop he proves by the following analysis. In 100 parts the stems were 
found to have the following composition: 

Composition of stems of ramie. 

Per cent. 

Carbon 47.28 

Hydrogen 6. 26 

Nitrogen 09 

Oxygen 42.23 

Ash 4.14 

Total 100.00 

Composition of ash of ramie. 
Alkalies : Per cent. 

Potash 32.37 

Soda 16. 39 

Lime 8.40 

Magnesia 5. 39 

Peroxide of iron 

Chloride of sodium .. 9. 13 

Phosphoric acid 9. 61 

Sulphuric acid 3. 11 

Carbonic acid 8. 90 

Silicic acid ( with a little charcoal and sand) 6. 60 

Total 99.90 

It will be noticed that the alkalies contribute almost one-half and the phosphoric 
acid about one-tenth of the ash. If the weight of dry stems obtained at one crop 
be taken at only 1,000 pounds per acre, this gives, with three crops in the year, a 
yield of about 3,000 pounds of dry stems per acre per annum. The quantity of ash 
in that quantity will amount, according to the foregoing analysis, to 124 pounds, and 
the quantity of alkalies subtracted from one acre in the course of the year will be 
about 60 pounds and of phosphoric acid about 12 pounds. In England a crop of 
wheat is usually assumed to subtract from the soil about 30 pounds of alkalies and 
28 pounds of phosphoric acid, and a crop of flax about 50 pounds of alkalies and 
24 pounds of phosphoric acid. In comparison with these numbers, it seems that 
ramie requires a very large amount of alkalies, especially of potash, more than 
either flax or wheat, while the quantity of phosphoric acid is only one-half of that 
contained in a crop of flax, owing to the large quantities of phosphoric acid con- 
tained in the linseed. 

Where it is difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of manure it is rec- 
ommended to collect and burn all refuse of decortication, and return 
the ashes to the soil, The proportion of mineral constituents found in 



17 

the fiber, which is taken away, is very small. The French writers 
attach great importance to the use of leaves as fertilizing- material, and 
as these amount to almost half of the green weight of the crop, the 
advantage of such a practice will be readily appreciated. 

Favier says emphatically that with utilizing the leaves a less quan- 
tity of fertilizer is necessary, "but the leaves must be regularly applied 
nevertheless." 

In a Chinese treatise on agriculture, according to Koyle, it is stated 
that the young plants when only a few inches high are watered with a 
mixture of equal quantities of water and liquid manure. After the 
tenth month the plants must be covered with fresh horse, ass, or cow 
manure; and in the tenth month of every 'year, before cutting the 
offsets which pass beyond the roots, the earth is covered with a thick 
layer of cow or horse manure. The use of pigs' dung, however, is to be 
avoided. In the second month the manure is raked off, in order to allow 
the new plants to come up freely. 

In Mr. Favier's admirable treatise on ramie, a great deal is said upon 
this subject, and many interesting tables of analyses are presented. 
We learn that well- decomposed stable manures and well-ground 
chemical fertilizers, guano, and oil cake, are all used with success 
upon French ramie plantations. The practice is to spread these 
upon the land, the rains or irrigation carrying the nutritive elements 
where they can be' readily assimilated by the plants. Eeducing to 
pounds and acres (as the figures are given in kilograms and hectares) 
we find that about 7,000 pounds of stable manure, or 525 to 615 pounds 
of chemical fertilizers or oil cake, are used per acre. 

The exact proportion of the fertilizing elements to he employed in the composition 
of i hemical fertilizers is certainly difficult to determine, since it varies with the 
kinds of soil, hut we may adopt a formula based upon the average of the analyses of 
the crops. The chemical fertilizer composed as follows, and applied in the quantities 
stated above, per cutting, will give satisfactory results : 3 to 4 per ceut of soluble 
phosphoric acid, 8 to 10 per cent of pure potash, 5 to 6 per cent of nitrogen, and 8 to 
10 per cent of lime. 

It should be particularly noted that the quantities of fertilizers recom- 
mended per acre are to be applied per cutting and not annually. Mr. 
Favier considers stable manure an excelleut fertilizer, as it contains 
very nearly the kind of nutriment that the plant requires. The ferti- 
lizer that has given the best results is oil cake, to which has been 
added carbonate of potash in the proportion of 10 to 15 parts of the 
latter to 100 parts of the former. The oil cake supplies the necessary 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but lacks the potash. The restoring of 
the leaves to the soil supplies a portion of the potash needed by the 
plant, and when this is not done, a larger proportion of potash than is 
indicated above should be used. The practice is to bury the leaves in 
trenches immediately after each cutting. 

Professor Hilgard, who has treated this subject exhaustively in Bul- 
letin No. 94 of the California Agricultural Experiment Station, makes 
17136— IS T o. 7—^2 



18 



tlie statement that of all fiber plants ramie stands first as regards the 
depletion of the soil of plant food. A very interesting comparative 
table is given, showing amount, in pounds, of soil ingredients withdrawn 
from one acre by various fiber and other crops. The portion referring 
to ramie is here reproduced, and may be studied with interest and profit. 

Soil ingredients (in pounds) withdrawn from one acre by a crop of ramie. 



Soil ingredients. 



Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

-Br. ox. of manganese. 

Iron and alumina 

Phosphoric acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Silica 

Chlorine 

Total ash constituents 
Nitrogen 



Leaves 
(4.25 tons). 



Stalks 
(7.25 tons). 



08.13 

8.99 

500.91 

lit. 58 

1.92 

38.50 

77.13 

30. 80 

092. 71 

41.50 

,041.35 

2U0. 10 



155.99 

33. 03 

71.77 

43.08 

1.45 

12. 10 

07.71 

14.53 

7.00 

2.50 

410.48 

105. 85 



Bark Whole plant 
(2.75 tons). (14.25 tons). 



27.80 

7.52 

19.14 

10.10 

.20 

.71 

10.80 

3.17 

4.48 

7.79 

91.74 

57.75 



251. 98 

50. 11 

657. 82 

168.27 

3.57 

51. 43 
155. 70 

48. 50 
704. 25 

51.85 
, 133. 57 
309. 70 



The total amount of mineral ingredients withdrawn by a single crop 
(four cuts) is 2,143 pounds, which must be considered as permanently 
removed when neither the leaves nor the stalks are used as fertilizing 
materials. The draft per acre made on lime is about 658 pounds; on 
potash, 252 pounds ; phosphoric acid, 156 pounds, and on nitrogen to the 
extent of 370 pounds. Of the potash about three-fifths, or 156 pounds, 
is contained in the stalks, more than one-quarter, or G8 pounds, in the 
leaves, while the bark and fiber, the only production aimed at, contains 
a little above one-tenth, or 28 pounds, of the total amount. 

The leaves contain nearly 87 per cent of the total lime taken from 
the soil, that found in the stalks being about 10 per cent, and that in the 
bark 3 per cent. Of the total phosphoric acid withdrawn, the leaves 
absorb almost 50 per cent, or 77 pounds; the stalks 43 per cent, or about 
68 pounds, while only 7 per cent, or 10.86 pounds, is found in the bark. 
The depletion of the soil in nitrogen is greatest through the leaves, 
which have more than 55 per cent of the total, or 206 pounds; about 
29 per cent, or 106 pounds, is found in the stalks, while in the bark 
there is only 15 per cent, or about 58 pounds. It will thus be seen 
how very small is the proportion of plant food withdrawn by the bark 
and fiber as compared with that by the leaves and stalks. 

If the leaves and stalks are returned to the soil, the- amount of min- 
eral matter withdrawn per acre is, comparatively speaking, very small, 
being only about 28 pounds of potash, 19 of lime, 11 of phosphoric acid, 
and 58 pounds of nitrogen. A strong soil could withstand such a small 
demand for a considerable length of time without showing an appreci- 
able diminution of crops; and whenever fertilizing becomes necessary, 
it will probably be found that, in California, phosphoric acid and nitro- 
gen are the substances to be supplied. 

Should the stalks not be used as fertilizer, the amount of potash 
permanently removed from the soil would be increased by 156 pounds, 
that of lime 72, phosphoric acid by 68, and that of nitrogen by 106 



19 



pounds; quantities forming, with exception of lime, a large percentage 
of tbe total mineral matter withdrawn. 

Mr. S. B. Allison recommends as a good fertilizer for ramie 300 
pounds of cotton-seed meal and 300 pounds of kainit, and suggests 
mixing with an equal weight of charcoal dust; the special advantage 
in the use of the last-named substance, however, is not clear. The 
kainit supplies the needed potash, while the necessary nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid is supplied by the cotton-seed meal. Professor Stubbs 
recommends two parts of cotton-seed meal and one part of acid phos- 
phate, at the rate of 400 to 450 pounds per acre, though he states that 
the results of his operations the past season lead him to believe that 
the fertilizer was not applied in just the right combination for the best 
success. In Florida the natural phosphate of the State may be used 
with good results, though the necessary potash will need to be supplied. 
Frederick Natho, in his Texas experiments, has only used "potash salts 
at the rate of one ton per acre per year." He supplies it, proportion- 
ately, after each cutting. 

But enough has been written to enable any planter or experimenter 
to properly enrich his land for this crop. That the plant can not be 
grown successfully without bringing the soil up to the proper fertility 
is satisfactorily proved by the evidence set forth, and those who try to 
cheat the land by halfway measures, in the matter of applying fertil- 
izers and in returning the trash to the soil, will in the end only cheat 
themselves. 

SOIL PREPARATION. 

In preparing the land for a plantation, thorough tilth — that is, deep 
plowing and cross harrowing — is essential, which should be done in 
the fall. The ground is frequently 
broken to a depth of 15 inches or 
more, but never less than a depth of 
12 inches to secure good results; 
and Jumpy land is rolled. Before 
planting, the ground is again cross- 
plowed, harrowed, and rolled — about 
the 1st of February being a good 
time for the work. 

The plant is propagated by seeds, 
by cuttings, or by layers, and by 
division of the roots. When pro- 
duced from seed, the greatest care is 
taken with the planting, as the seed 
is very small. For this reason open- 
air planting can hardly be relied 
upon, plants started in the hot-bed 
giving the best results. After plant- 
ing, the seeds are covered thinly 
with sifted earth and kept shaded 




20 



from the sun until the young plants are 2 or 3 inches high, when sun- 
light is gradually admitted to them. In five or six weeks they will be 
strong enough to transplant to the field. Layering is little practiced 
in this country (see remarks on the subject of planting, p. 22. By far 
the most practical method and the one which will give the best results 
is propagation by a division of the roots of old or fully matured plants. 
The old plants are better than young ones for the purpose, as the root 
mass is larger and the roots stronger. The accompanying figures Avere 
made from a root 2 years old, which will illustrate the subject better 
perhaps than could be done with a larger and more mature root mass. 
Figure 1 shows the planting roots before subdivision ; figure 2 shows 
the same roots with the crown roots or tubers, which are not provided 

with eyes (and which therefore would 
not grow if planted), their office seem- 
ing to be to support the life of the 
plant. It is said that if these crown 
roots are broken, as sometimes occurs 
from the cracking of the soil, the 
plant will at once give evidence of 
the injury. 

The planting roots are usually sub- 
divided into lengths of 3 to 5 inches, 
each piece showing several eyes. 
Five inches is the better length to 
plant, although shorter pieces are 
often used. In this connection it 
may be noted that the price of 1,000 
roots will be found an uncertain 
quantity, unless the length of root is 
ascertained. It would seem there- 
fore that the most satisfactory course 
would be to sell the roots by weight 
or' by some standard of measure. Ramie roots are often sold in Lou- 
isiana by the sack of 3 bushels, and 400 sacks, or 2 car loads, of roots 
have been taken from an acre. As to price of roots sold in this way it 
is learned that $3 per sack is considered a fair quotation. 




Fig. 2. — Showing crown roots. 



PLANTING THE ROOTS. 



There is the widest difference of opinion as to the distances apart the 
plants should be set. The foreign practice has been dilated upon at 
length on a former page, and it is not necessary to repeat it. Professor 
Stubbs formerly advocated planting in rows 1 or 5 feet apart and 1 
foot in the row, but in his recent experiment the plants were set out in 
the row much more closely. While this will give good results in the 
first year, it will prove a drawback in the end, as in two or three years 
the mass of roots will have become solid, aud require resetting to pro- 
duce suitable stalks for the machine. Mr. Allison plants in rows 1£ 



21 

feet apart and 1 foot in tlie row. Mr. Natlio, a Texas grower, prefers 
the rows to be 4 feet apart, the plants to be set 15 inches in the row. 
In California the rows are often set closer than 4 feet. 

Mr. Allison's practice has been to prepare the land in the fall by using 
a subsoil plow. About the 1st of February it is cross plowed and well 
harrowed. A month later it is laid up in flat beds 4^ feet from centers, 
leaving" about 6 inches elevation in center of bed. The ground is then 
barred off and opened to the depth of 4 inches with a scooter plow, 
the roots being placed about a foot apart in the row and then covered 
with two furrows. A week later, when the roots are sprouting nicely, 
a harrow with a board at the back of it is run over the ground, which 
allows the young plants to come up in clean mellow soil. 

Just as this report is being submitted for publication the Department 
is in receipt of a communication from the Perseverance Fiber Com- 
pany, through Mr. W. H. Parmenter, of Houston, Tex., giving the 
practice recommended by the company for this season's planting. It 
is advocated to set the roots diagonally, as represented by >fc in the 
accompanying plan (fig. 3). Plow in the trenches, pulverizing the soil 
and loosening the spreading roots. The roots should not be cut off 
until fall or spring, unless too prolific. Irrigate in the trenches. Plant 
8,000 roots to the acre. A 4-foot passageway should be left in every 
block of 2 acres or so. 



.TRENCH : 



:■* * -3f # -Jf #■'.... -3f *■ 



* * -Jf -Jf -Jf -3f -3f -Jfr. 



: TRENCH: 



■X- -X- -Jfr -X- -X- -X- -X- -X- 



&* 00 
CD 

•x- -x *■ -x- -x- -X- -x- -x- 



t^ 00 



:::::::::::: ::::::TRENCH :::::: :::::: ::::::: 

Fig. 3. — Texas method of setting ramie roots. 



22 

This is similar to the quiucuncial method of setting roots recom- 
mended by Mr. Favier and before referred to. Mr. Parmenter says : 

In severe cold weather the plants should be protected, as are strawberry plants, 
by a 3-inch covering of hay or straw. In breaking new soil plow 2 inches, then go 
over the land with a sod cutter twice, and then plow again as deeply as possible 
before setting the roots. On laud already cultivated plow deeply and pulverize the 
soil thoroughly. After the plant attains a height of 2 feet it will require no further 
attention, as the roots will spread and cover so as to prevent weeds or other 
growth. In harvesting, a horse reaper can be utilized to advantage, and the stalks 
should be fed to the decorticator as soon as cut. Six hundred pouuds of fiber should 
result from each cutting. The roots do not require replanting, but once in four 
years should be reset. Alluvial soil is very desirable for planting ramie. It thrives 
in good sandy loam. The better the soil, the finer the fiber and the greater the 
crop. Moisture in the soil is essential. The time for harvesting the crop is when 
the stalk, 6 inches from the bottom, turns brown. 

Reference has been made to layering. This is usually resorted to 
when a supply of roots is difficult to be obtained, and it is desired to 
reproduce plants as rapidly as possible. It is always practiced in con- 
nection with established plantations. In California layering is prac- 
ticed as follows : 

The roots are planted in the first year for the special purpose of propagation, 3 or 
4 feet apart, set slantingly, 2 or 3 inches of earth covering the tops. Careful culti- 
vation is given, the ground being kept clean and loose. When the first stalks have 
attained the height of about 3 feet they are ready for layering. The ground should 
then be thoroughly moistened and the stalks bent gently down, fastened with small 
crotchets, and covered with 3 or 4 inches of earth, leaving the top of the layered 
branch uncovered. Care should be taken to avoid detaching the stalks from the 
parent root. In the course of three or four weeks the layers will have made stalks 
which can again be layered for the same purpose, and quite a number of plants can 
be dug out for transplanting in order to increase the plantation. 

It is also suggested to plant cuttings. Tbese are prepared by dividing 
the stalk into lengths of 5 to 6 inches. They are set out obliquely, 
and nearly covered, and if the work is done before hot weather begins 
they will require neither watering nor shading, but must be kept clean 
of weeds. In two weeks they may be transplanted. 

In time the entire space between rows will have become so filled with 
roots that replanting will be necessary. Some have advocated the 
plowing up of a field of ramie when the roots become overcrowded, 
leveling off the ground and removing all exposed roots, leaving the field 
to start up anew from the roots that remain buried in the soil. This is 
a shiftless method at best, as it is impossible under such conditions to 
secure an even stand over the field, and an even growth of stalks is 
equally impossible. A course recommended both in California and in 
Louisiana is to run between the rows with a plow having a sharp rolling- 
cutter, by means of which the superfluous roots are removed, and the 
rows or beds trimmed to a given width. The method advocated is to 
turn from one side only, allowing the roots to spread on the other side. 
This removes annually all old growth, and keeps the stand of plants 
hardy and vigorous. The course recommended in India, on the con- 



Report No. 7, Office Fiber Investigations. 



Plate II. 




Ramie— Stalks ready for cutting. 



Report No- 7. Office Fiber Investigations. 



Plate III. 




Ramie— Stalks showing second growth. 



23 

trary, is to replant the entire field every four or five years in order to 
keep up a vigorous growth that will give a profitable yield. 

The matter of securing an even growth of stalks is a very important 
consideration; and by even growth not only is meant even length and 
size of stalks, but uniformity of growth in the individual stalk. A 
stem of ramie either grows rapidly and rankly, when there is an excess 
of moisture, or it is stunted and of slow growth when opposite condi- 
tions prevail. When one of these conditions follows the other iu the 
same growing crop, the fiber is adversely affected, for in the after proc- 
esses to fit it for spinning, treatment necessary to reduce the hard or 
stunted growth to the condition of spinnable fiber may wholly disinte- 
grate the structure of the fiber in the softer or free grown portion of 
the stalk, and great wastage and loss ensue. Or, the stalks in one 
part of the field may produce one grade of fiber and those on another 
portion a different grade: or the crops from two cuttings may differ in 
the same way. It will readily be seen, therefore, that when the culti- 
vation has been carelessly conducted, and the stalks are not only uneven 
in quality in themselves but uneven in different parts of the field (owing 
to different conditions of moisture and soil fertility), that the loss in 
value may be sufficient to consume the farmer's profits. The only after- 
cultivation necessary is to plow, or hoe between the rows, as may be 
necessary to keep the soil free from weeds or in good condition. This 
work is usually performed in the spring or early summer months. 

As to the operations in the second year, the detailed account of Mr. 
Allison's experience will give a hint as to the practice that should be 
followed. Early in April, when the danger of frost had passed, all 
young growth was cut off, but not saved. Fertilizers were applied, and 
the soil between the rows plowed and hoed. About the 1st of July the 
first crop was cut, followed by another plowing and hoeing. The stalks 
were then allowed to grow until about November 1, the time of the sec- 
ond cutting. It would be better, however, not to delay the last cut too 
late, iu order to avoid a "second growth," which takes the form of clus- 
ters of leaves, eventually producing branches, and which appear at the 
point of juncture of the leaf and stalk after the old leaves have fallen. 
The accompanying figures illustrate this: Plate II, the stalks and 
growth of alternate leaves ; Plate III, with the beginning of a new 
growth of leaves at the point of contact of the old leaf with the stalk. 
Figure 1 illustrates the clusters of flower racemes at the summit of the 
stalks, these finally maturing seed. 

IRRIGATION. 

In portions of Texas and California the practice of irrigation will be 
necessary to secure any results. But there is no doubt that in other 
States there are localities, not known as irrigation districts, where water 
must be used to produce a proper growth of stalks. While the roots can 



24 



not live in a wet, cold soil, they do require a sufficiency of moisture to 
insure continuous and rapid growth, and this will necessitate the prac- 
tice of irrigation on any lands that may in a dry season, or in the dryer 
portions of every season, lack the proper degree of moisture to make 
satisfactory growth. On the other hand, continued cold, rainy weather, 

giving an excess of moisture, may injure the 
crop by stunting the growth. 

In an official report made in 1881 by Dr. 
King, superintendent of the botanical gar- 
dens of Calcutta, artificial irrigation is con- 
sidered essential to obviate the natural effects 
of a dry climate. And it is pointed out that 
the plants need moist air — no long, dry, hot 
months — a naturally rich soil, plenty of rain, 
and no extremes of temperature. The con- 
clusions drawn are that in localities where 
these conditions are not found, or where the 
existing conditions can not be modified to 
approach them, it is useless to try to grow 
ramie. In the Kangra district of India the 
plant can not be successfully cultivated with- 
out irrigation, and the facilities for obtaining 
an ample supply of water at all seasons (the 
dry, particularly) render this district partic- 
ularly favorable to the culture. Mr. Favier, in 
his account of French culture, has a special 
chapter on irrigation, urging the practice as essential to success when 
the proper conditions of moisture do not exist naturally. 




FlQ. 4.— Clusters of flower racemes. 



COST OF RAMIE CULTIVATION. 



Regarding the expense of establishing and maintaining a field of 
ramie, especially in the United States, it is difficult to make authorita- 
tive statements. Much that has been published relating to our owu 
country is merest estimate, the figures having been based upon the 
experience of the cultivator, or experimenter, with small plats, which 
must prove misleading; even where acres have been grown instead of 
rods square, estimates of cost are more frequently published than 
figures of actual practice. And as often, the figures relating to other 
countries have been given without a hint regarding their source. 

In considering this question, therefore, an effort has been made to 
give as reliable figures as can be obtained from foreign sources, and to 
sift carefully the published statements which refer to our own country, 
supplementing this data with figures secured from careful and respon- 
sible experimenters by recent special investigations. 



25 



FRENCH EXPERIENCE. 

The close system of planting recommended by Mr. Favier requires 
14,000 to 16,000 plants to the acre. He remarks that the expense of 
this number of plants, even at 30 francs ($6) per thousand, might turn 
many agriculturists from going into culture, and he therefore recom- 
mends purchasing a few thousand roots to make a beginning, gradually 
extending cultivation as the roots are multiplied. He states that the 
planting of 3,000 roots in March will insure by October a sufficient 
number of divisions of roots to plant one hectare (2J acres), and 
instances a growth of 250 stalks in good soil from a single original root 
in three years. While this method of stocking a plantation by propa- 
gating takes time it has the merit of economy. Here is the account of 
the first year's operations, for a hectare, the figures in the last column 
having been reduced to American money, and the equivalent of an acre: 



Practice. 



Per hec- Per 
tare. acre. 



Plowing, 40 to 50 centimeters deep, 4 horses, 2 men 3 days, at 21 francs 

Cross plowing, 1 horse, 1 man 3 days, at 7 francs 

Harrowing, 1 horse, 1 man 2 days, at 7 francs 

Fertilizers and hand labor 

Setting out 40,000 plants : 

10 days' work for a man, at 3 francs 

10 days' work for a woman, at 1£ francs 

Second cultivation, 40 days' work for a man, at 3 francs 

Weeding, 40 days' work for a woman, at 1£ francs 

Expense of irrigation, 20 days' work for aman, at 3 francs 

Total 



Francs. 

63 

21 

14 

180 

30 

15 

120 

60 

60 



$5.04 
1.68 
1.12 

14.40 

2.40 
1.20 
9.60 
4.80 
4.80 



563 45. 04 



Note.— Ten days' work per hectare would be equivalent to four days' work per 
acre. 

In order to establish an exact account a rental estimated at 240 francs 
per hectare is added to the above " for best laud, water rights included." 
This is equivalent to $19.20 per acre. The 240 francs added to the 563 
francs gives a total of 803 francs per hectare, or $64.24 total per acre. 
The expense per hectare of maintaining the plantation, when once 
established, is stated as follows: 



Practice. 



Per hec- Per 
tare. acre. 



Irrigation, 20 days for a man, at 3 francs 

2 cuttings, 20 days for a man, at 3 francs 

Drying and putting into bundles, 20 days for a woman, at 1| francs 

Fertilizers and hand labor 

Light second cultivating and weeding, reduced to 40 days for a woman at lh francs, 
or 8 days of light"plowing 

Total 



Francs. 

60 

60 

30 

180 

60 



$1.80 
4.80 
2.40 

14.40 

4.80 



31.20 



The 240 francs rental per hectare is again added, with 20 francs on 
capital employed in planting, making a total of 650 francs per hectare, 
or $52 per acre. When a farmer owns the land, as is usually the case 
in the United States, the item of rental will not enter into the account. 
Ten francs per 100 kilograms is named as the j)rice of the stalks on the 
farm. This is equivalent to about 91 cents per 100 pounds, or, in round 
numbers, $20 per ton. 



26 

EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

A careful study of the literature of the ramie question in this coun- 
try throws little light upon this subject. Tables have been published, 
it is true, purporting to give the fotal cost of producing stalks and 
liber from an acre of ground (including decortication, etc.), but they 
do not bear the test of analysis. In such a table the matter of agri- 
cultural operations is dismissed with the siugle item, "cultivation, $3;" 
and no hint is given as to the expense of establishing the plantation, 
cost of fertilizers, and of roots, or setting them out, yet such figures 
are used as the basis upon which to calculate the profit from growing 
the crop. The nearest approach to a positive statement occurs in the 
circular of a ramie machine company, in which the expense of estab- 
lishing a plantation of 100 acres, including fertilizers, is placed at 
$5,000, or $50 per acre, and the cost of cultivation per pound of raw 
fiber, 1£ cents. On the contrary some voluminous writers on this sub- 
ject have been satisfied with general statements to the effect that the 
plant requires almost no care and will produce its two or three crops 
per year almost without cultivation. 

Mr. Fremery states that the yearly expense for cultivation and fertil- 
izing (presumably in Texas) will amount to $20, cost of establishing 
the plantation not given. Mr. Frederick Natho, of Clear Creek, Tex., 
in response to an inquiry from the Department, gives the cost of estab- 
lishing a plantation, per acre, as follows: 

Preparation of the land, plowing, etc $3. 50 

Fertilizing (not stated) 

Planting 8,000 roots 8. 00 

Cultivation first year 10. 00 

Irrigation (not stated) 

Total 21. 50 

Cultivation the second year will cost $5 per acre; cost of cutting 
first growth (worthless for fiber), $1; cost of cutting after first year, 
with mower, $1; by hand, $1.50 per acre. The cost of roots is esti- 
mated at $4 to $5 per thousand. Mr. Natho states that with irriga- 
tion four annual crops can be grown in Texas. 

Eegarding the figures of the Louisiana Experiment Station, it should 
be stated at the outset that the Louisiana experiments have been con- 
ducted on a small scale, and the estimated cost has therefore been 
greater than would be the case with the cultivation of large areas. 
They are as follows: 

Preparation, two plowings, harrowing, etc $5. 00 

Fertilizers (not stated) : 

Setting out 8,000 roots • 10. 00 

Cultivation the first year 5. 00 

Total 20.00 

In preparing the land it is first broken with a 4 horse plow, then 
followed with a 2 horse plow. In the first year's cultivation only 



27 

improved implements (no plows) are employed. Estimated cost of cut- 
ting per acre, $1. Subsequent cultivation (after first year) is stated at 
$0 per acre. 

The estimates of the Mississippi Experiment Station are also based 
on experience with small areas. These figures are as follows : 

Plowing, subsoiling, and. harrowing $1. 60 

Fertilizers 6. 00 

Making rows and planting roots 8. 20 

Cultivating three times and hoeing twice 3. 50 

Total 19. 30 

Cultivation the second year (and subsequently), $2.50; fertilizers, $6; 
cost of cutting not given. 

Mr. S. B. Allison, of New Orleans, responds to the circular letter of 
the Department with the following figures per acre from actual 
experience : 

Nov. 1, 1890. Plowing and. subsoiling $2. 00 

Feb. 1,1891. Running rows 5 feet from centers 1.25 

Feb. 1,1891. Harrowing 50 

Feb. 20, 1891. Planted roots, two hands 1. 25 

Feb. 20, 1891. Planted roots, two hands 1. 50 

Feb. 20, 1891. One team opening and covering 1. 25 

Apr. 15,1891. Thorough plowing 1.25 

Apr. 15,1891. Hoeing . .60 

May 10, 1891. Plowing 1.25 

May 10,1891. Hoeing and layering new branches 1.80 

Fertilizers cost 12. 00 

Total 24. 65 

Cultivation the second year cost $3.50; fertilizers, $12, or a total of 
$15.50; irrigation not mentioned. Mr. Allison's land was poor, which 
will account for the large expense for fertilizers. On land in good fer- 
tility this expense would have been materially lessened. Mr. Allison's 
account of the second year's operations is so detailed that it is repro- 
duced in full. 

April 3, crop cut oft' after frost (not saved) ; plowing, barring, and throwing back 
the soil; plowing, $1.50; hoeing, 50 cents; fertilizers, $12. July 4, cut the first 
crop; quantity of dry decorticated fiber, 608 pounds. Plowing again in July, at a 
cost of $1; one hoeing, 50 cents. Cut second crop November 10; quantity of dry 
decorticated fiber, 826 pounds. 

. This shows a total yield of 1,434 'pounds of fiber from two crops. The 
expenses of cultivation for the third year, 1893, were the same as the 
second year, and a yield of 1,626 pounds of fiber is reported. 

The cost of roots varies. Mr. Allison paid $30 for the six barrels of 
roots per acre used on his plantation. Mr. Frederick Natho says $4 to 
$5 per thousand, or $35 to $40 per acre for roots. 



28 

FIGURES OP THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 

An estimate of the total cost of establishing a ramie plantation, per 
acre, in the Gulf States, based on the Department's returns, is as follows: 

Preparation of the laud $3. 03 

Fertilizers 9. 00 

8,000 roots 35. 00 

Planting roots 8. 00 

Culture first year 5. 85 

Irrigation 

Total 60. 88 

This allows $35 per acre for roots and $9 for fertilizers. By using- the 
leaves and trash, after cutting, the expense of fertilizer the second year 
will be considerably reduced, and the plantation may be extended from 
the root growth of the first year at the cost of digging and subdividing. 
By proceeding in this manner, extending the plantings over two or three 
years, the cost of establishing the entire plantation would fall consider- 
ably below the figures given. The average cost of cultivation the 
second year is shown by the returns to be $4.25, the expense of ferti- 
lizers not included. 

The only California figures that I have been able to obtain are as 
follows: Cost of plowing, etc., $1.50 to $3 per acre; setting out plants, 
50 to 75. cents per thousand. Cost of cultivation the first year, $1.50 
per day, working about three acres per day. Cost of cultivation the 
second year, the same, but subsequently about one-third less. Nothing 
is said as to cost of fertilizers or of irrigation. Cost of roots, $15 to $20 
per thousand. 

It should be remarked that the cost of roots will not amount to $35 
per acre if layering is practiced, though it will require a little longer 
time to establish the plantation. In a recent publication Mr. Allison 
places the cost of fertilizers at $6 per acre. 

HARVESTING RAMIE. 

In general terms the crop is ready for cutting when the leaves can 
be readily detached bypassing the hand down the stems, and when the 
bases of the stalks have begun to turn brown. The sproutiug of the 
buds at the base of the stem is another indication. No rule as to dates 
can be laid down, as temperature and climatic conditions vary so greatly 
in different sections, and in the same section in different years. In 
France the first crop is cut from June to July and the second from Sep- 
tember to October. 

It is a question whether we can economically harvest in this country by 
hand cutting, especially if the stalks are stripped of their leaves in the 
field. Then, too, the system of decortication to be employed, whether 
the green or the dry, Avill need to be considered. Mr. Kauffman states 
that the harvesting can be readily done by reaping machines or self- 



29 

binders, which will reduce the expense to the minimum. If this mode 
is adopted without stripping the leaves the decortication must follow 
immediately, for the mass of stalks and leaves will soon heat, and the 
stalks rapidly mold or mildew. From personal observation, at the time 
of the ramie trials of 1892 at New Orleans, the writer is convinced that 
heating may begin in twelve hours, and that the bundled stalks will 
show positive signs of mildew within twenty-four hours. With stripped 
stalks the heating will be less rapid, but even when denuded of their 
leaves and lying in heaps, the stalks will soon be affected to an extent 
that will seriously injure the fiber. 

This opens at once the old question of green or dry decortication,* 
each system having its advantages and its disadvantages. If green 
decortication is employed, it is claimed that the fiber is more readily 
separated from the wood or waste portion; that the extra expense of 
drying the stalks is avoided, though the work must be done at once. 
If the dry system is employed, the crop can be harvested and cured 
more deliberately, and the stalks stored away, to be decorticated at 
the pleasure of the grower. 

FRENCH PRACTICE. 

Mr. Favier makes the following statements regarding the manner of 
gathering the crop in France: 

The stems may be stripped of their leaves before being cut, and this operation 
considerably facilitates their desiccation. To effect this work the stalk is grasped 
with one hand at the top, over the terminal bunch of leaves, and with the other 
they are drawn downward to the bottom. The leaves are easily detached by the 
simple passage of the hand and fall upon the ground. In this manner the opera- 
tion is very rapid. The expense which may attend this labor will be compensated 
for in the enriching of the soil and the diminishing of the quantity of fertilizers to 
be employed. The agriculturist can judge for himself as to the advantage of this 
system to his fields. The harvest should be always in a dry time, and the stalks 
should be cut as near to the soil as possible but not below the surface. A very 
sharp instrument should be used, to avoid any tearing of the main stem and to pre- 
vent breaking off pieces of the roots or parts of the lower stalk, which may easily 
occur with badly cut plants, much to their injury and to the detriment of the crop. 
We have successfully employed a curved pruning knife that was a little heavy. The 
stalks being cut should be spread over the ground, turned over, well dried, and then 
shaken to throw off the remaining leaves, and then put into bundles. This requires 
ten days, after which the bundles should be placed upright and left in the open air 
at least ten days longer before storing them away. Care must be taken not to put 
them away damp, because of fermentation and injury to the quality of the fiber. 

The bundles of stalks should be kept iu a very dry place aud protected from all 
moisture, which might produce mustiness and render them unsalable. When they 
are piled up care should be taken not to pack them too closely, but to cross the 
bundles so as to diminish the points of contact and allow the air to circulate among 
them as much as possible. The most favorable places for storing them are large 
lofts or garrets, but if sheds must be used they must be so arranged as to protect 
the stalks from rain, and planks must also be placed over the ground to prevent 
contact with the earth. 

* See Keport Kq. 1, Fiber Investigations Series, 1890, p. 84. 



30 

THE DRY SYSTEM OE DECORTICATION. 

It is extremely doubtful if ramie stalks cau be suu dried in the climate 
of Louisiana to a state of sufficient brittleness to work properly in the 
machines. Kiln drying- adds to the expense, and, as some assert, hard- 
ens the resinous principle or gum which holds the filaments together 
in the bast, making the after separation of the fiber more difficult. 
The dry system of decortication, therefore, is hardly adapted to Loui- 
siana and the Gulf States. In California, where the climatic conditions 
are so different from those which prevail in Louisiana, the dry system 
will undoubtedly give the best results. Professor Hilgard says: 

It will readily be understood that the dry mode of working is best adapted to a 
dry climate, in which the stalks and gummy bark become so brittle that the break- 
ing and beating is effective to a degree which it would be impossible to attain in 
moist climates like those of Louisiana or Guatemala except by artificial heat, which, 
as stated, is therefore generally used in connection with the wet process. Hence the 
dry mode of working promises exceptional advantages where, as in the interior of 
this State (California), the dryness of the summer air is proverbial. The dry proc- 
ess also possesses the advantage that each machine can be kept running continu- 
ously, on practically uniform material, while in the wet mode of treatment the plants 
must, in a large field, either be worked at very different degrees of maturity or else 
the crop must be attacked with a large number of machines in order to secure 
uniformity of the product, after Avhich the machines will lie idle. ■ 

SELECTION OF THE STALKS. 

The Chinese strip the fiber by hand, producing, it has been stated, 
less than 2 pounds per day per laborer. This practice admits of care- 
ful selection of the stalks, and no doubt the even quality of the China 
grass of commerce at the present time is due to such careful selection. 
It is a question, therefore, if by cutting the crop with a harvester, as 
has been recommended, where the stalks will be of varying lengths, 
even including short and immature growth, an even quality of fiber 
can be produced. Dr. Forbes Watson gives valuable testimony upon 
this point: 

Some people say that the plant should be grown to the height of 6 feet; some say 
they should not be more than 3 feet; but the result of my experiments point to the 
fact that 3tj to 4 feet is about the right height to grow them. If the length is not 
more than 2 feet, the fiber is very fine, but the chances are you get more waste and 
not such a good percentage of fiber. In the long stems the liber is not so fine as in 
the medium ones; in short, the medium stems, from 3 to 4 feet, are about the right 
length to cut. ■ This has an important bearing upon the question of the number of 
crops which can be obtained. It is clear that if you allow the plant to grow 6 or 8 
feet high, you can not expect to get as many crops as when only 4 feet. Moreover, 
there is this characteristic : All these stalks which you see here from the same plant- 
that is to say, the shoots — have come from the same root. Having determined the 
proper length, the stems should be gathered accordingly, only those being cut which 
have attained the right height; in this way a continuous crop may possibly be 
secured. 

Mr. Allison urges the importance of running a mowing machine over 
the field after the first frost in April in order to produce an even growth, 



31 • 

and advocates harvesting in the latter part of June or in July, when 
there is actually nothing for the farm hands to do, as the sugar and 
cottou are both laid by and the cotton is not ready for picking; then 
again in the fall at any time between November 15 and December 15. 
when the grinding season is over and cotton picking about done with. 

NECESSITY OF EVEN GROWTH OF STALKS. 

So little attention has been paid to the importance of securing an 
even growth that this authority makes the statement, as the result of 
long experience and observation in the South, that there has been very 
little properly grown ramie, the deduction being that to harvest a 
ramie crop in an economical manner, without regard to the system of 
decortication that will follow, there must be an even growth of good 
straight stalks which will give a percentage of merchantable fiber that 
will make the culture profitable. 

When the stalks are of varying lengths, the fiber must be of varying 
quality. In Mr. Montgomery's report, concerning his experiments in 
the Kangra district of India, it is even recommended to make two 
grades of fiber from tbe same stalk. He says: 

I have already expressed my opinion against the use of either immature or small 
stems as likely to give a result inferior both in quality and quantity; yet I am fully 
satisfied as to the advisability of not only sorting the crop as cut, according to 
length of stem, wben necessary, but I would further recommend that tbe peel from 
all stems of 5 feet and upward should be divided into two, and tbe fiber from tbe 
upper and lower portions kept distinct. 

He also shows that a crop grown in the rainy season will produce a 
poorer (softer) quality of fiber, and in less quantity, as the resinous mat- 
ters are in a more diluted stare, and are subsequently washed out. In 
another report of the office of fiber investigation it is shown that the 
larger, more succulent leaves of the sisal hemp plant always yield a 
much smaller percentage of fiber than the more solid, normally grown 
leaves. It is doubtful if it would pay to sort the crop in this country, 
but it certainly would not pay were a large percentage of the stalks 
small and immature. 

When the crop is not harvested with a reaper the stalks must be cut 
by hand. This operation has been stated to cost from $1 to $2 per acre, 
though even $2 is a low estimate, especially if the stalks are bundled, 
as they should be, for ease in handling. 

ESTIMATES OF YIELD. 

The estimates of yield per acre in this country have too often been 
overstated. In treating this subject, to get at the truth the figures of 
actual yield in many countries have been carefully studied, and, from 
the mass of positive evidence accumulated, it has been possible to 
secure data by which the estimates for our own country can be tested, 
there being very few records of actual yields, and those mainly calcu- 
lated from the product of small areas. 



32 

Mr. Toobe, of New York, who bases his published estimates on French 
experience, states that an acre will produce 1,500 pounds of dry stalks 
the first year, about 3,000 pounds the second year, about 4,000 pounds 
the third year, and about 0,600 the fourth . He states that 1,000 kilo- 
grams of stalks per hectare will produce 200 kilograms of decorticated 
fiber. Eeducing the above yield of stalks to the equivalent of acres and 
pounds, for decorticated fiber, we have : First year, approximately, 300 
pounds of fiber; second year, 600 pounds; third year, 900 pounds; and 
fourth year, 1,300 pounds of decorticated fiber. 

RAMIE IN FRANCE. 

Regarding the cultivation of ramie on French soil, Mr. Charles Eoux, 
in treating this subject in Lis brochure Notice sur La Ramie, says: 

An error has, however, crept into many publications, one which has been extremely 
prejudicial to the development of this culture. It has been represented that ramie 
is successfully grown in France, but well-organized experiments have proved that 
this is a mistake. Eamie is essentially a plant of warm countries, and the species 
requiring the least heat (white ramie, or Nivea) is also peculiarly sensitive to cold. 

In the south of France, especially in Provence, where various small plantations 
have been started, they have managed to make two cuts per year, but the second 
cut is often of poor quality, having the fiber ill formed and wanting in strength. 
Neither would we advise the agriculturists of our country to enter into this culture, 
as the ramie plant is too sensitive to frost, and especially to cold winds. There 
should be no advantage, in my opinion, in the cultivation of this plant, except in 
those countries where at least three cuts per year can be assured — that is, in coun- 
tries lying south of 40° of north latitude. The French colonies in Algeria, Tunis, 
Tonkin, Reunion, and Guadeloupe are admirably adapted to the production of 
ramie. In these countries 3 of 4 cuts a year may be relied on, giving an average 
yield of 30,000 kilograms of green stalks, not counting the weight of the leaves, per 
hectare and per cut, and this would represent a yield of 1,500 kilograms of dry rib- 
bons per cut, or 600 kilograms of degummed filasse, at an actual value of 175 francs 
per 100 kilograms. 

The figures, 30,000 kilograms per hectare, mean a little less than 11 
tons of green stalks per cut per acre. The 1,500 kilograms of dry rib- 
bons per hectare, equal to 1,320 pounds of dry ribbons per acre, would 
yield 528 pounds of degummed filasse per acre. Mr. Eoux adds that 
no plantation of any importance is now in existence in France, and 
we know that the Favier company uses only Chinese fiber in its works 
at Valobre. 

It is not believed that in this country we should expect more than 8 
to 10 tons of stalks with leaves at a cutting per acre, or for two cut- 
tings, the average in Louisiana being 20 tons. This opinion is based 
on the results of actual practice upon the small areas experimentally 
cultivated; for it can not be claimed that ramie, up to the present time, 
has been grown in the United States other than experimentally. 

French experience, as recorded by Landtsheer, has shown that every 
ton of stalks and leaves, when properly treated, will give about 25 
pounds of the chemically degummed fiber fit for spinning, and the rec- 
ords of recent experiments in Louisiana have shown very nearly the 
same results. This will be referred to acain. 



33 

According to Hardy's experiments in Algiers, it is estimated that an 
acre of fully grown green stalks with their leaves will produce a weight 
of about 48,000 pounds, which will yield 4,900 pounds of dried stalks 
and 1,400 pounds of cleaned ribbons from one cutting. This, reduced 
to equivalents, gives a yield of 229 pounds of dried stalks to a long ton 
of green stalks with leaves, from which is obtained about 65 pounds of 
cleaned ribbons, yet to be degummed. This is equivalent to 630 pounds 
of ribbons from a ton of dried stalks. Professor Hilgard estimates two 
cuttings in California to yield 12,900 pounds of dry stalks, and that 
the minimum product of raw fiber from this weight of dry stalks would 
be about 15 per cent or, say, 1,935 pounds. This is equivalent to 336 
pounds of raw fiber to the long ton of dried stalks. Both the Algerian 
and Oalifornian figures represent estimates based on the yield of small 
areas (hardly more than garden plats) and should not be taken as abso- 
lute, compared with the figures of Favier or De Mas, where the yield 
per acre is actual. 

YIELD FOR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 

In the following tables are given the product of two cuttings of stalks 
to the acre, and the percentage of yield, for different countries — aver- 
age statements. The figures represent the product of the second 
year's growth after planting. The third and fourth years would give a 
proportionately larger yield, as has been shown : 

Product of two cuttings per acre, in pounds. 



Country. 



Algiers (Hardy) 

Italy (De Mas) 

Italy (De Mas), third year. 

France (Toobe) 

France (Favier) 

India (Spon) 

Louisiana (Kauifman) 

California (Hilgard) 



Green stalks. 



With 
leaves. 



96, 000 
52, 600 
64, 720 



Denuded 



27, 600 
26, 300 
32, 360 



10, 400 
22, 400 



Dry 
stalks. 



9,800 
5,260 
6,400 
3,000 
6,776 



12, 900 



Raw- 
fiber. 



2,800 
944 

1,280 
600 

1, 285 
500 

1,000 

1, 935 



Product of one cutting per acre, and percentages of yield. 



Country. 



Raw fiber 

from 
one crop. 



Raw fiber Per cent 

from one ! dry to 

ton — green, green stalk. 



Per cent 

fiber to 

dry stalks. 



Algiers (Hardy) 

Italy (De Mas) 

Italy (De Mas), third year. 

France (Toobe) 

France (Favier) 

India ( Spon) 

Louisiana (Kauffman) 

California ( Hilgard) 



Pounds. 
1,400 
472 
640 



Pounds. 
65.0 
40 
44.2 



250 
500 
'967 



62.8 
58.3 
77.2 



10.2 
10 
9.8 



28.9 

17.9 

20 

20 

19 



17136— No. 7- 



'Average, estimated. 



34 

In one instance, where the weight of green stalks with leaves was 
not known, the quantity has been calculated upon the ratio of 5 to 7, 
it having been shown that the leaves of fresh-cut plants represent five- 
twelfths of the entire weight. By calculating the weight of the entire 
plant in such instances it is possible to show, approximately, for the 
sake of comparison, the yield of raw fiber from a ton of green stalks 
with leaves in different countries. 

The tables form an interesting study. The figures for France and 
Italy are absolute statements of yield per acre, and it is interesting to 
note that there is a close agreement both in the percentage of weight 
of dry to green stalks (about 10 per cent), and in the percentage of 
weight of raw fiber to dry stalks (varying from 17 to 20 per cent). From 
a careful study of the figures of many statements of yield throughout 
the world, the writer is of the opinion that 10 per cent may be fairly 
stated as the percentage of yield of dry to green stalks with leaves, 
with 20 per cent as the yield of raw fiber from a ton of dry stalks. 
These percentages approximate very closely to the figures calculated 
from the careful experiments of Eiviere in Algiers, Landtsheer in 
France, and Allison in our own country, also agreeing, as before stated, 
with the figures of Favier and De Mas in the above tables. 

The yield per acre of green stalks with leaves, when well grown, for 
a single cutting in the Southern States, has been placed at 8 to 10 tons, 
or say 25 tons for two cuttings under the most favorable circumstances. 
A calculation based on the above figures places the yield ot dry fiber 
per acre at about 1,000 pounds, for two cuttings, which will not be 
found far out of the way in actual practice, when the crop is cultivated 
on a commercial scale, provided, always, that the crop has been properly 
grown. 

Commenting on Mr. Hardy's figures, Mr. Favier makes the state- 
ment that such great crops have not generally been produced in France. 
They are certainly much higher than the figures of other countries, 
which relate to actual yields, unless we except Dr. Hilgard's statements 
of yield in California; but the high percentage of fiber to dry stalks, 
as calculated from Mr. Hardy's statements, can not be taken as a safe 
basis of estimate. And were Dr. Hilgard's figures based on the actual 
yield of one or more acres, instead of a plat 18 by 34 feet, no such high 
percentages of yield would have been recorded. 

Eeferring again to Mr. Favier's opinion, he makes the statement that 
agriculturists have obtained in the south of France as high as 1,600 
pounds of filament per acre. It may therefore be admitted that ramie, 
under conditions which may be considered normal in that country 
(France), will yield from 1,280 to 1,600 pounds of filament in two crops 
per annum, so that each cutting will yield more filament than the best 
annual crop of hemp or flax. 

In the Bulletin of the Botanical Department of Jamaica, for March 
and April, 1894, an estimate of the yield of fiber per cutting per acre 



35 

is given as follows : 20,000 pounds green stalks with leaves, equal to 
5,000 pounds dry stalks, yielding 15 per cent, or 750 pounds of dry fiber. 
These figures can not, liowever, be safely taken, since 84 pounds of dry 
fiber from a ton of green stalks and leaves is an unusual product. 
The figures for Algeria are excessive, but the Jamaica figures of yield 
per ton of green stalks with leaves show an increase of almost 30 per 
cent in dry fiber over the yield in Algeria, calculated from Hardy's 
figures. 

THE POSSIBLE AMERICAN YIELD. 

It will be impossible to accept some of the statements of yield in 
this country, because, in estimating on the basis of a given number of 
stalks in an acre, stalks of full length and weight have been considered, 
when in actual practice many of the stalks in a ramie field will be 
found too short and too immature to work, and the total output of raw 
fiber made from an acre will be minus in just the same ratio that the 
stalks are immature or half grown. It is to be regretted that the pub- 
lished statements of yield in Louisiana have not been carried out in 
sufficient detail to admit of subjecting them to analysis. Figures have 
been published from time to time during the past twenty years by 
ramie companies and writers, but often, when it has been possible to 
test them, they are found to be very wide of the mark, the estimate 
frequently having been based on the weight of a stalk and the number 
of stalks supposed to grow on an acre of ground, the yield of dry fiber 
per acre necessarily being very much overstated. Kauffman's state- 
ment of 10 tons of stalks for two cuttings without leaves, which is 
quite within bounds, while his estimate of 100 pounds of fiber from a 
ton of stalks without leaves (which is equivalent to 58 pounds from a 
ton of stalks with leaves) brings the yield of raw fiber between the 
figures of Hardy and De Mas, as given in the table. 

Mr. Charles Riviere (director of the botanic garden at Algiers) states 
that 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of stalks and leaves will yield 520 
kilograms (1,144 pounds) of stripped stalks; the 520 kilograms of 
stripped stalks will give 104 kilograms (228.8 pounds) of dry stalks, 
and these will yield 20.8 kilograms (45.7 pounds) of decorticated prod- 
uct (a little less than 20 per cent) and this weight will give 11.2 kilo- 
grams (24.6 pounds) of degummed filasse. "This is a yield which I 
have proven in all my experiments." {De Landtsheer.) 

This means that a long ton of green ramie stalks with leaves will 
yield 46£ pounds of decorticated fiber, which will give 25 pounds of 
degummed fiber, the figures forming a ready basis of calculation when 
the total weight of an acre of stalks is known. 

Professor Hilgard gives detailed figures of yield per acre, and per- 
centage of dry to green stalks with leaves, from actual experiments at 
Berkeley in 1890, which form an interesting study. The following table 
has been arranged from these figures : 



36 



Date of cutting 



Yield, per acre. 



Green. 



Dry. 



Percent- 
age, dry 
to green. 



FIRST CEOP. 

1888. July 16 

1889 

1890. July 9 

1890. July 9 

SECOND CEOP. 

1887. October 31 

1890. November 21 

1890. November 21 



34, 861 
44, 304 
54, 173 
44, 268 



12, 354 
14, 910 

7,204 



9,620 
9, 443 
8,662 
8,307 



27.6 
21.3 
16 
18.8 



5,254 
2,698 



35.2 
35.2 



It should be stated that the product for au acre is estimated from 
actual cuttings on two plats, about one seventy-first of an acre. The 
high rate of yield at Berkeley (compared with the yields reported in 
our first table) is readily accounted for by the fact that in these small 
plats, 18 by 34 feet, the crop was grown under the best possible condi- 
tions, and doubtless with garden culture. The figures quoted from 
Favier are actual yields from crops grown upon a plantation of 250 
acres in the south of France. 

Careful exx^eriments with the fiber from different cuttings will be 
necessary before authoritative statements may be made as to the num- 
ber of cuttings that may be depended upon in the United States. 
The point to consider is not whether two, three, or four cuttings of 
stalks of requisite growth may be made, but whether the fiber pro- 
duced in these stalks will be of uniform quality in the different cuttings, 
and of the proper standard of spinnable fiber. Taking ten weeks as 
the average time required to mature the crop, three crops would 
require a growing season of thirty weeks. If the climatic conditions 
of the section where the crop is growing are such that the requisite 
degrees of heat and moisture can be kept up uniformly for a period of 
thirty weeks, then three crops can be readily grown. If, on the other 
hand, the first and third crops are of slow growth while the second 
crop, which has been produced in midsummer, is of rapid growth, a 
uniform grade of fiber in the three crops can not be produced, and two 
sure crops will therefore be better than one sure and two uncertain 
crops. In order to grow two sure crops the early spring growth should 
be mowed off, say from the first to the middle of April. 

Professor Hilgard makes the following statement regarding the rate 
of growth in California: 

In the Kern Valley there is little difficulty in getting four cuts of good size and 
quality, and the same is probably true on the stronger soils as far north as Fresno, 
and southward in the valley of south California. In the Sacramento Valley three 
cuts can doubtless be obtained, at least -when irrigation is employed, or in naturally 
moist land. At Berkeley and elsewhere on the immediate coast, two cuts (the sec- 
ond usually a small one) is all that can be counted on; but in warm valleys of the 
Coast Eange doubtless from two to three full crops, according to the supply of 
moisture and the strength of the soil, may be looked for. 



37 

Little may be expected from a field of ramie the first year, although 
when the climate admits of three annual cuttings the third cutting 
may give stalks fit to work, though the yield will be small. As a gen- 
eral rule one year of cultivation, after planting, without yield should 
be calculated upon. 

In the opinion of the writer, therefore, two cuttings are possible in 
Texas and Louisiana, three in portions of Florida, and, as has been 
already stated by Professor Hilgard, from two to four cuttings in 
California. 

Since the recent visit of the writer to New Orleans, at the time of 
the official ramie machine trials of 1894, he is convinced that two cut- 
tings of second year's growth ramie, when properly cultivated, will 
produce 20 tons of green stalks with their leaves. 

Measured plats of second crop Louisiana ramie, cut by Mr. Allison, 
when weighed showed a yield equivalent to 23,000 pounds and 25,000 
pounds per acre, in round numbers, the first lot being white ramie, the 
second lot green ramie, and Mr. Allison is of the opinion that with 
good culture this yield may be maintained. This is equivalent to 20 
and 22 tons of green stalks and leaves per acre annually. 

After a careful study of the yields of all countries, we may fairly 
estimate 8 to 10 tons of stalks with leaves at a single cutting per acre, 
or for two cuttings, which is the average for Louisiana, 20 tons; and it 
may be possible under the most favorable conditions to secure a yield 
of even 25 tons per year. 

EXTRACTING THE FIBER. 

It is not important to record here the consecutive history of ramie 
machine invention in America, particularly as it would necessitate 
describing almost a score of machines that, one after another, were 
brought to the attention of the public for a time, only to be practically 
abandoned when it was proved they were unable to fulfill the claims of 
their inventors. Since 1867 the persevering effort to produce a satis- 
factory machine has naturally resulted in a gradual improvement in 
mechanical construction; new principles have been worked out and 
the causes of subsequent failures studied, with the result that substan- 
tial progress can be recorded, though economic success can hardly be 
claimed. 

THE MACHINE PROBLEM. 

What are the difficulties"? A familiar illustration is here offered. 
When a farmer starts up his thrashing machine after harvest he feels 
reasonably certain that the implement is strong enough to clean his 
grain ; that it may be run to its full capacity; that it will do its work 
properly, and, barring unusual accidents, run continuously without sub- 
jecting him to loss of time and other annoyances. And he knows how 
many bushels of grain per day it will clean, and he is able to calculate 
beforehand the number of days that will be required to thrash his crop. 



38 

Now suppose that this implement, after running a little while, becomes 
so clogged in some of its parts that thirty or forty minutes are lost in 
remedying the difficulty, and that after a further run there is a sudden 
breakage that causes him to lose the remainder of the forenoon, and 
this is repeated day after day. Or, that it fails to work automatically, 
as is expected, some of his grain not being thrashed at all, but thrown 
out with the straw, or the kernels broken and destroyed; or suppose, 
if it works without breakage or loss of time, that at the end of the day 
he finds the expense of thrashing alone has amounted to very nearly as 
much as he will receive for the thrashed product when sold, there being 
no other device with which to thrash the crop, and no method of hand 
cleaning that will not involve even greater money loss. Under such 
disheartening experiences how long will he cultivate grain crops ? This 
supposed case illustrates fairly some of the difficulties which have 
entered into the ramie machine problem. 

But this difference should be noted : The kernels of wheat are easily 
separated from the ear, while the fiber of ramie, inclosed as it is in a 
coarse, woody stalk, and hidden under a layer of outer bark, tenaciously 
holds its own until the entire mass has been broken, beaten, and scraped 
by a series of rapidly revolving mechanisms. The gummy matters 
which hold the filaments together in the bark often harden upon these 
mechanisms, particularly when of small diameter, the fiber adhering and 
wrapping about them, necessitating repeated stoppages. Or, sometimes, 
the stalks choke the feed rolls, bringing the machine to a sudden stand- 
still; or a few stalks stick in their places, while the others are moving 
on, hopelessly entangling the fiber. Again, the fiber is only partially 
cleaned, pieces of wood coming out attached to the strands of fiber, or 
an inch or more of the end of the stalks are not cleaned at all. Then, 
in other machines the beating is so harsh that the fiber is cut and 
broken and its value greatly impaired. After considering the many 
difficulties and hindrances in the effort to turn out good fiber, the fail- 
ure to produce any fiber in paying quantity has proved the greatest 
obstacle of all to that success for which invention has been striving so 
long. 

TWO CLASSES OF MACHINES. 

Ramie machines may be divided into two classes: (1) Delignators, or 
simple bark strippers, and (2) decorticators, which not only remove the 
bark but make some pretense of removing the outer pellicle or epidermis 
and the layer of cellular matter covering the fiber layer proper. The 
bark strippers produce the fiber in the form of fiat ribbons, only the 
wood of the stalk being eliminated, and they are usually constructed 
with some form of knife or knives, with which the stalks are split before 
being subjected to the action of the breakers and beaters. The decor- 
ticators usually first crush the stalk by means of metal rollers, present- 
ing the flattened mass to the action of the breaking or beating devices, 
and frequently there is a system of mechanisms for combing the fiber 



39 

before it is finally delivered to the aprons. The product of the delig- 
nators is always the same, a flat ribbon of bark, whether the dry or 
green systems of decortication have been employed. The product of 
the decorticators, on the other hand, is almost as variable as the machines 
which turn out the fiber. In some of the poorer machines this product 
is little more than a mangled strip of bark, neither a delignated ribbon 
nor decorticated fiber, but something more fit for the trash heap. Iu 
the best of them individual filaments, by the green system, somewhat 
resemble China grass, though darker and less clean, while by the dry 
system the fiber is already soft enough to spin into coarse cordage with- 
out further, manipulation. Between these two extremes every quality 
of "ribbon" is represented. 

Taking China grass, or commercial ramie, as the highest form of the 
fiber, since it is degummed with a loss in weight of only 15 to 30 per 
cent, it will readily be seen that the value of the machine-cleaned rib- 
bons to the manufacturers must be in exact ratio to the degree to which 
the cleaning and freeing from gum have been carried. The simple delig- 
nated ribbon, containing all the gums, cellular matter, and epidermis, 
must be the lowest form of "raw fiber," as it will show the largest per- 
centage of loss (extraneous matters) in the afterprocess of degumming, 
and the expense of degumming according to French experiments is 
shown to be in direct ratio to the bulk of foreign matters to be elimi- 
nated. This, however, will be referred to in its appropriate place further 
on. (See PI. IV, showing hand-cleaned and machine-cleaned fiber.) 

But we have considered that these different products, or grades of 
product, differ only in the degree to which the elimination of the gum 
and waste matters have been carried, and that the proportion of gum, 
cellular matter, and epidermis is the only consideration. Iu point of 
fact the product of many machines, which otherwise might be called 
"good fiber," has been so filled with fragments of the woody portion of 
the stalks, or so "chewed up" by harsh treatment, or finally so snarled 
and tangled in the delivery that it has had little value for any purpose. 
The product should be delivered straight, unsnarled and untangled, 
tree from chips, and without breaks, cuts, or bruises, whether in the 
form of stripped bark or semicleaned fiber, and its value will be deter- 
mined by the percentage of pure fiber it contains. 

It may be fairly assumed, then, that the nearer a machine approaches 
in its product the ramie of commerce, Chinese hand-cleaned fiber, the 
higher the price of its product and the more desirable the device pro- 
ducing it as an economic agricultural implement. 

RESULTS OF MACHINE TRIALS. 

Having discussed quality of fiber produced, let us turn our attention, 
to that other great problem, the question of quantity or output. In the 
first report (No. 1 of the Fiber Investigations Series) is an account of 
the running of five French machines several years ago, and the record 



40 

of one of the best of these machines in a field trial (in 1888) was com- 
mented upon. A single machine worked twenty- five days on the prod- 
uct of 1 hectare, or 2£ acres. With 20 acres, at this rate, it would 
have required two hundred days, and a farmer with one machine, 
decorticating three crops produced in a season on 100 acres, would 
have to run the machine ten years, of three hundred working days 
each, to accomplish it. To state it differently, to decorticate at this 
rate the product of a single cutting on 100 acres, in one month of thirty 
days, would require 33 machines. Yet one can imagine the French 
attendant of this machine who is showing it off to a novice sending 
three stalks through the mechanism in as many seconds, and with a 
complacent " Voila, Monsieur," presenting the beautifully cleaned fiber 
to his delighted gaze. Such an exhibition before a capitalist who has 
not "read up" is sometimes worth the value of a hundred shares of 
stock at par. But ramie machines have improved since 1888, and it is 
now possible to run through the product of an acre in a day, without, 
however, considering the question of quality. It would doubtless prove 
interesting to speak of the many machines that have appeared at the 
official ramie trials held in this and other countries in past years, but 
limited space forbids. It is, however, worthy of note that in the French 
trials of 1889 the longest run of any machine was thirty-three minutes, 
and about 62 pounds of dry stalks were run through, giving a little 
less than 17 pounds of fiber. The longest run on green stalks was eight- 
een minutes, about 125 pounds of stalks being. run through, producing 
about 40 pounds of wet ribbon. The shortest run was one and a half 
minutes, 15 pounds of green stalks turning out 2.2 pounds of fiber. 

At the French trials of 1891 one machine ran through about three- 
fourths of a ton of green stalks in eighty-seven minutes, producing 475 
pounds of wet ribbon. 

At the New Orleans trials of 1892 one machine ran through 332 
pounds of stalks in forty- two minutes, producing 88 pounds of ribbon, 
when it refused to work further. 

At the machine trials of 1894 in New Orleans one machine ran 
through 500 pounds of green stalks and leaves in twenty-four minutes, 
giving 116J pounds wet ribbons, and no doubt a much larger weight of 
product would have been recorded but for the fact that considerable 
fiber found its way into the trash heap through lack of proper delivery 
mechanisms. The other machine made as good a time record. 

At the New Orleans machine trials of 1892 the machines ran on stalks 
that had been stripped of their leaves by hand, and no machine was 
able, on account of stoppages, to run through the first 500 pounds of 
stalks weighed out. Finally the trial was abandoned. In 1894 the 
machines took the stalks with their leaves, as hauled from the field, 
and worked continuously. The quality of the product of decortication 
at the first trials was little better than simply delignated ribbon, some 
of it badly bruised and injured. At the second trial the decortication 



41 

was excellent, though one machine seriously injured its product in the 
delivery. This shows decided progress, and one of the immediate 
results of the trials just held will be a further improvement of both 
machines exhibited, the work having already been undertaken. 

Another evidence of progress is the departure from the old idea of 
heavy constructions and complicated mechanisms. It has been shown 
that a farmer with 50 or 100 acres in ramie can not possibly extract 
the fiber from a crop of 1,000 tons of green stalks with a single machine. 
A gang of several machines of reasonably light, simple, and inexpen- 
sive construction, and propelled by low horse power, will be required 
in order that one power plant may run several machines. The newer 
French machines are built in conformity with this idea. The English 
machine tested at New Orleans is simplicity itself, and the latest 
American machine is so reduced in weight that it is almost portable. 
Eeviewing the experience of even the last five years we are able to 
record such substantial progress in machine construction that the out- 
look is hopeful, and experimenters are beginning to feel great encourage- 
ment. Through repeated tests under official direction, there is little 
doubt that the ramie machine problem will be finally solved. In our 
own country there have been many attempts to produce an econom- 
ically successful machine, and in the past few years probably a dozen 
machines have been brought to the attention of the public as possess- 
ing merit. 

AMERICAN MACHINES. 

Records of private trials of American machines, and of foreign 
machines brought to this country, have been forwarded to the Office 
of Fiber Investigations of the Department from time to time, but the 
results in a majority of cases have not given the information desired 
by the Department as to the capacity of the machines or their utility in 
continuous operation. A point which can not be overlooked is the fact 
that the records of private trials that are published by interested par- 
ties are liable to be considered in the light of advertisements, while 
the records of an official trial are at once authoritative, as the trial is 
made under specific rules and by a board of wholly disinterested per- 
sons. The advantage of Government trials in Europe and elsewhere 
has been recognized by all whom they interest, and it is only through 
these trials, as new machines are developed, that it has been possible 
to note the progress in the construction of decorticating devices. 

The importance of authoritative knowledge regarding American 
inventions resulted in the first official trial of ramie machines held in 
the United States, which took place at Audubon Park, New Orleans, 
in September, 1892. Three of the leading machines of American inven- 
tion at that time were entered for competition. These were given rigid 
tests under prescribed rules by a special board of experts, resulting 
chiefly in bringing out delects of construction rather than the estab- 
lishing of records of capacity for American machines. Scarcely more 



42 

was accomplished at the early trials of ramie machines by the French 
Government, though in these trials beginnings were recorded by means 
of which subsequent progress has been marked. One result of the 
early French trials has been to stimulate invention, and the same may 
be said of our own efforts, as the New Orleans trials of 1894 proved. 
In the trials of 1892, as I have stated, it was necessary to strip the 
stalks of their leaves, and even after such stripping no machine was able 
to finish the first 500 pounds of stalks weighed out for its trial. In the 
tests of 1894 the stalks were run through the machines just as they 
were cut in the field, and both machines, as well as the smaller Allison 
machine tested a month later, met every demand in trials for continu- 
ous running that was laid upon it. As to cpiality of output, however, 
so good a report can not be made, though progress was recorded. The 
company controlling the English machine has already made important 
modifications in the construction of their machine, based upon sugges- 
tions made by the Department's expert. The new Allison machine 
likewise embodies decided improvements over the cumbersome device 
presented at the earlier trials. As tiie official report of these trials 
appears in Appendix B, at the end of this bulletin, it is not necessary 
to go into details regarding the manner in which the machines did their 
work. But it is not to machinery alone that we look to overcome the 
difficulties in the decortication of ramie, for it is possible to combine 
some form of process with a mechanical device and thus reach the 
final result. 

AFTER-PROCESSES AND MANUFACTURE. 

Those who are familiar with the varied processes in the extraction 
and first preparation of the fiber of flax and hemp will know that there 
are four stages, or operations, between the work of the farmer and that 
of the manufacturer, as the retting — in water or upon the ground — 
breaking, scutching, and finally the hackling, which combs out the tow 
and leaves the fiber in shape for the manufacturer. With ramie the 
retting is omitted, and the stalks are broken and cleaned either green 
or dry with all the gums in their natural condition. This corresponds 
to the breaking and scutching in the treatment of flax, the two opera- 
tions being combined in one when the work is done on a machine. 

DEGOMMING. 

Before the ramie fiber is hackled (combed), it must be subjected to a 
chemical operation analogous to retting, to which the French have given 
the name "degommage" — hence the English term "degumming." The 
gums holding together the filaments of flax are soluble in water and 
therefore the retting accomplishes the separation of these filaments 
without difficulty. The gums which hold together the structure of 
ramie bast are not soluble in water, but require peculiar chemical 
treatment, which can be more economically applied to the extracted 



Report No. 7, Office Fiber Investigations 



Plate IV. 




Ramie in detail: 1, Ramie Stalks; 2, Machine-cleaned Fiber: 
3, Chinese Hand-cleaned Fiber 



43 

fiber than to the fibrous substance as it exists in its natural state in 
the stalks as harvested, and so the retting - , or degumming, of ramie is 
usually done by the spinner, who, knowing the use to which the pre- 
pared fiber will be applied, deguuis the raw product to suit his own 
special needs. The farmer then has nothing to do with this operation, 
and need not interest himself in it further than to know if his product, 
when extracted and degummed, is fit for spinning, or up to a .standard 
of quality that will insure profit from tne culture; nor is this operation 
connected with the work of decortication. 

Through the researches of the late M. Fremy, member of the French 
Institute, it has been shown that the gums and cements holding together 
the filaments of ramie are essentially composed of pectose, cutose, and 
vasculose, while the fiber itself is composed of fibrose, cellulose and its 
derivatives. The theory of degumming, therefore, is to dissolve and 
wash out the gums without attacking the cellulose. 

In order to eliminate the vasculose and cutose, it is necessary to 
employ alkaline oleates or caustic alkalies employed under pressure, 
and even bisulphates and hydrochlorites. The gums being dissolved, 
the epidermis is detached and can be mechanically separated from the 
layers of fiber by washing. The larger number of degumming processes 
in present use embody these general principles. 

Lest it may be understood that it is only necessary to place any raw 
ramie fiber in the degumming bath to separate at once its different con- 
stituents at a fixed cost, it should be recognized that upon the degree 
of cleanness of the fiber to be degummed depends the expense of the 
operation. It has been held by some inventors or others controlling 
machines for decortication, that it makes little difference whether the 
ribbon to be operated upon is simply stripped bark or a well decorti- 
cated product, as the resolving agency, followed by a volume of water, 
may be depended upon to render the separation complete, and to wash 
out all extraneous matters and give the pure fiber. The quantity that 
may be turned out in a giventime, rather than quantity with quality, has 
been the main consideration. The waste matters in the bark of the 
ramie stalk must be wholly eliminated before the fiber is fit for the 
spinner, and if the machine does not accomplish any part of this work 
the degumming bath must do it all, but at a cost in direct ratio to the 
percentage of waste matters that remain in the ribbons after leaving 
the machine. 

DIFFERENCE IN COST OF DEGUMMING MACHINE AND HAND CLEANED FIBER. 

The difference in appearance between machine-cleaned fiber and the 
imported China grass is readily shown in the accompanying illustration 
(PI. IV). Figure 1 represents a bundle of dried stalks, grown in Louisi- 
ana; figure 2, a mass of fiber extracted by a machine from green stalks 
grown in Louisiana, and figure 3 the China grass of commerce. 



44 

French experimenters have shown that it costs no more to degum the 
China grass that will fill a kier or tank of certain dimensions than the 
charge of simple stripped ribbons that will fill the same tank. Yet the 
weight of China grass that will fill this kier will be almost double that 
of the stripped bark, and while the kier of China grass will show a 
shrinkage (waste) of only 30 per cent, let us say, the loss from the 
stripped bark may be 66 per cent. To state this differently, a half-ton 
charge (1,120 pounds, French) of China grass may give 775 pounds of 
degummed fiber, the expense of degumming (at $20 per charge, let us 
say) being about 2f cents per pound. Now the same kier, when charged 
with simple stripped bark, will hold only 660 pounds and give but 264 
pounds of degummed filasse. But as the cost of degumining the con- 
tents of the tank will be the same in both instances, the last operation 
has cost 7£ cents per pound of pure fiber turned out. These figures are 
from French experiments made several years ago and recorded by Mr. 
de Landtsheer's brochure, "The Truth Regarding Ramie," though the 
cost of degumming has since been somewhat cheapened. The point is 
made clear, however, that whatever the cost for one filling of the tank, 
the expense of eliminating the waste matters from a charge of stripped 
bark must always be three times as great as the cost of reducing the 
same bulk of China grass. In these experiments it was shown that a 
ton of degummed fiber, from China grass costs for the degumming $58, 
while a ton of degummed fiber from simple stripped ribbon costs $170. 
Raw fiber of different degrees of cleanness between these two grades 
give results in the same ratio. 

From calculations based on more recent French experience, according 
to Mr. Toobe, the cost to degum 1 ton of decorticated fiber is set down 
at $30. From the statement that a crop per hectare of 3,900 kilos (8,580 
pounds) of decorticated fiber will produce 2,340 kilos (5,148 pounds) of 
degummed fiber, it is possible to calculate the cost of the operation of 
degumming, per ton of degummed fiber, to be about $50. The only 
American figures at hand (estimated expense for a large factory, from 
actual working) show that the cost of degumming China grass per 
ton of degummed fiber will range from $60 to $75, with a shrinkage in 
weight of only 25 per cent. American figures, have been given that, 
are even lower than those of Mr. Toobe, but the fiber, judging from the 
samples submitted, would not bring as high a price in the market as 
either the French or the other American samples. Charles Roux states 
that 100 pounds of China grass degummed in France will yield 66 pounds 
of the finished product, while the same weight of machine-cleaned ribbon 
will only yield 35 pounds of the degummed filasse, or a little more than 
one-third. Referring again to Mr. Landtsheer's figures, we find that 
100 pounds of simple machine-delignated bark will give 40 pounds of 
degummed fiber. This he calls quality A. A better grade of machine- 
cleaned ribbon, quality B, will give 50 pounds of degummed filasse, and 
quality C, approaching in appearance the Chinese fiber, 60 pounds of 



45 

degmnined filasse per 100 pounds of the raw material, while the im- 
ported Chinese, hand prepared, will yield 70 per cent of degummed 
fiber. Additional evidence is furnished in recent statements to this 
office by Mr. Favier to the effect that while it costs' about $50 per ton 
to degum China grass, the machine-extracted fiber, by the Favier 
system, costs $75 per ton, the raw fiber treated being very clean, with 
the waste matters of the bark partially eliminated. As to the com- 
mercial value of the degummed fiber, recent French figures quote it at 
about $300 per ton, or nearly 13 J cents per pound. 

FOREIGN MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Regarding the degumming processes in use in this and other coun- 
tries, they are either patented or secret processes, and the Department 
has made no special investigations into their comparative merits and 
has no official knowledge of the formulas employed. Many specimens 
of the finished fiber produced by these processes have been received, 
however, carefully examined, and preserved in the reference collection 
of the Office of Fiber Investigations, together with the statements 
regarding special forms of machinery employed in the preparation of 
the commercial product. While there are no degumming factories in 
actual operation in the United States, as far as known, a number of 
fiber companies have satisfactory processes for degumming ramie, 
which will be employed when the active work begins. 

From an examination of the best of these samples which have been 
produced on apparatus designed to turn out the product in commercial 
quantity, if not already prepared by the ton, it is safe to say that the 
question of economical degumming is settled. Indeed there are several 
large establishments in Europe which handle hundreds of tons of the 
Chinese raw fiber every year, either spinning the degummed product 
in their own factories or disposing of it to other concerns. 

Reference has been made to the work of Mr. Favier, who employs 
his own process. The German concern at Emmendingen, Baden, has 
had no trouble with this branch of the industry, though the writer has 
not been able to secure from them detailed statements. The English 
company known as the " Boyle Fiber Syndicate " has developed an 
entirely satisfactory degumming process, which is employed at their 
spinning factory, recently established at Long Eaton', Derbyshire, the 
treated ramie costing 9 h, to 10 cents per pound, according to the cost of 
the raw material, and they claim a loss of only 12 to 25 per cent in t\ie 
treatment. There are no degumming establishments in active operation 
in the United States at the present time. 

The beautiful examples of degummed ramie shown in the Museum 
of the Dej)artment, duplicates of those exhibited in the Fiber Investi- 
gations collections at the World's Columbian Exposition, were prepared 
by the Forbes Fiber Company, of Jersey City. An illustration (fig. 5) is 
here given of the digester used in treating ramie fiber by this process, 



46 

a special feature of which is a series of wire baskets to keep the fiber 
straight. The Jones & Warr Company, of Paterson, the Persever- 
ance Company, of New Orleans, and The Boyle Fiber Syndicate, of 
London, which proposes to operate in this country, all have their own 
processes for treating the fiber and preparing it for the manufacturer, 
and will employ them in the near future. 

At the present time the imported China grass is the raw product 
used in these establishments. In the first report of this office refer- 
ence is made to the exceedingly limited supply of the raw material, and 
in the second report the world's commercial supply is placed at 10,000 







Fig. 5. — The Forbes diarester. 



tons, nine-tenths of which was said to be consumed in eastern coun- 
tries. Since the publication of these reports the situation has changed 
somewhat, and it is now possible to secure 1,000 to 2,000 tons a month 
if desired. The consul at Hankow recently submitted to this Depart- 
ment a fine sample of fiber that could be laid down at New York at 
$130 in gold per ton, and stated that the present shipments from 
Hankow amount to about 10,000 tons annually. The supply can be 
increased to meet the demand. 

The frontispiece was photographed from specimens in the Museum, 
and represents the dried ramie stalks from Louisiana, imported China 
grass (the same as degnmmed by the half ton), and a few examples of 
yarns, laces, and fabrics. 



47 

USE OF THE FIBER IN MANUFACTURE. 

What is being accomplished in ramie manufacture? Leaving China 
and other eastern countries out of the account, as ramie fabrics have 
been manufactured in the East from time immemorial, England and 
France have taken the lead in the production of manufactured products 
of China grass, although fortunes have been dissipated in these enter- 
prises, particularly when the industry was new. Exquisite samples of 
ramie manufacture were in possession of the Department of Agricul- 
ture as long ago as 1867, received from Messrs. Joseph Wade & Sons, 
of Bradford, England. During the last twenty-five years, up to the 
present, there have been factories in operation at various times in dif- 
ferent parts of Europe which have produced ramie goods in almost 
endless variety. 

It is not important to review in full the efforts that have been made 
in time past to introduce this fiber into manufacture. In recent years 
a number of more or less successful factories have been started for the 
production of ramie goods from the China grass of commerce, notably 
the German factory at Emmendiugen, the Austrian mill at Bregenz, 
the French association of Feray et Cie. at Essonnes, of A. Goulon at 
Rouen, and others, the companies operated so successfully by Mr. 
Favier at Valobre, and, latterly, in England, where the recent success 
of French experimenters in economically degumming the fiber has led 
to the establishment of new companies for the production of ramie 
goods. 

At the present time there are two filatures, or spinning mills, in 
France, two in Germany, one in Austria, one in Switzerland, and two 
English companies, one of which, the Boyle Fiber Syndicate, operates 
at Long Eaton. 

Probably the two most successful spinning mills are those operated 
at Valobre, France, and at Emmendingen, Baden, Germany. The 
former, by the Favier Company, is the successor to La Ramie Fran- 
chise, which figured so prominently in France in everything pertaining 
to the ramie industry for ten years or more since 1881. The Valobre 
factory is now spinning annually 150 tons of yarns, 50 tons of sliver, 
and 70 tons of noils. It spins yarn in numbers up to 90 in fineness. 
The company has added a dyehouse to its plant, and is steadily enlarg- 
ing its mills. 

At the Emmendingen mills about 180 tons of China grass were 
treated last year, the product of the mills returning about $183,000. 
During the past two years particularly there has been a rapidly 
increasing demand for the ramie yarns and fabrics turned out in Ger- 
many, and such products are now considered regular articles of com- 
merce. 

Thus we see that ramie spinning mills really exist in Europe, and 
that their products are easily disposed of, and not at a loss, as hereto- 
fore. What are the goods manufactured? Regarding the work at 



48 

Valobre, the Department is informed that it produces special threads 
for lace, passementerie, linen fabrics, and other products of a higher 
grade, in which the price of the materials is of less importance while 
waiting until the abundance and cheapness of the raw material will 
permit the introduction of threads for coarser goods for which there 
will be a large demand. For linen goods ramie is particularly applica- 
ble on account of its great resistance, both with regard to washing and 
to wear. The most important hotels and railway companies in France 
are said to have entirely adopted the use of ramie. The city of Paris 
has also adopted this linen for the service of its twenty arrondisse- 
meuts. It is ordered for the dressing of wounds in several hospitals, 
including those of the army and navy. The minister of war employs 
it for the cordage of balloons, powder sacks, etc., and the Bank of 
France now uses nothing else .for the manufacture of its notes but the 
ramie supplied by the Valobre factory; it has found the new bank note 
of ramie to be finer, more durable, and capable of receiving a better 
impression — consequently rendering forgery of the notes much more 
difficult, if not impossible. 

As to the possibilities of ramie manufacture there seems to be no 
limit. Stuff goods for men's wear, upholstery, curtains, laces and 
embroideries, plushes and velvets, stockings, underclothing, table 
damask, napkins, handkerchiefs, shirtings, sheetings, sail duck, car- 
pets, cordage, fishing nets, and yarns and threads for various uses not 
enumerated. 

Regarding these various uses of ramie fiber in manufacture, how- 
ever, M. Eoux says we should not conclude that this textile is destined 
to be employed so largely. The cost of its preparation will always 
prevent its common use as a substitute for the textiles that can be 
more cheaply grown and prepared. He concludes that while it has 
brilliancy it has not the elasticity of wool and silk, nor the flexibility 
of cotton; but it will always be preferred for making articles requiring 
the strength to resist the wear and tear of washing or exposure to 
weather. This facility to imitate all other textiles is one of the prin- 
cipal causes which has kept back the development of the ramie indus- 
try; and if, instead of launching out into a series of experiments, atten- 
tion had been concentrated upon the exclusive manufacture of those 
articles to which the properties of the plant were peculiarly and natu- 
rally adapted, this industry would probably be in a more advanced 
condition than it is at present. The Department of Agriculture has 
held to this position since its work in this field was begun. The folly 
of building up a ramie manufacturing industry on a false basis, that is, 
employing the textile as a substitute for something else, is to be depre- 
cated. The fiber should be used in those articles of economic neces- 
sity which would appear on the market as ramie, that any distinctive 
merit the textile may possess will become known, not only to the ramie 
trade, but to the consumers of the product. Even then there will be an 



49 

abundant demand for the textile, and for the waste fiber or combings, 
for use in mixing with other textiles, or for employment as out and out 
substitutes for them. Nor will the wearing qualities of these manu- 
factures at all suffer through the substitution. Not so at the present 
time, where the employment of jute fiber in manufactures for domestic 
use is often a positive fraud. 

MANUFACTURE WITHOUT CHEMICAL TREATMENT. 

Before leaving the subject of ramie manufacture, reference should be 
made to a possible use for the fiber without chemical treatment. In a 
communication from Mr. de Landtsheer, of France, it is suggested that 
the dry-system fiber can be employed in cheaper manufactures without 
degumming, as it will be possible to card it from the machine direct 
without subsequent treatment, and that a special industry might be 
created by employing this fiber, which would supply a market that 
farmers could satisfy. Mr. Forbes has made a similar suggestion, indi- 
cating the possibility of creating such an industry in the United States 
which would in no wise interfere with the degumming industry. This 
fiber, which is somewhat lighter colored than jute, could be wrought into 
fine twines of great strength — fish lines, nets, and even into fabrics for 
coarse uses where great strength would be a greater consideration than 
appearance and finish. The Southern States and California would be 
greatly benefited by such an industry, which is not beset with the dif- 
ficulties attending the use of American- grown fiber in the higher grades 
of manufacture that necessitates large outlay for degumming and comb- 
ing, with considerable waste. 

Ramie manufacture in our own country can hardly be said to have 
reached the commercial stage, though quite satisfactory results have 
been attained. The simpler forms of ramie fabrics were experimen- 
tally manufactured twenty years ago, but serious effort belongs to the 
present decade. 

Regarding the present status of this branch of the industry in the 
United States, it is only necessary to refer to the beautiful collections 
of degummed and manufactured ramie shown by the Department at 
the World's Fair at Chicago as evidence of what the United States 
will be able to accomplish in this direction when the industry is 
fairly launched. The beautiful examples of perfectly parallel, straight, 
degummed fiber there exhibited, prepared by the Forbes process and 
by Messrs. Jones & Warr, make it certain that we shall not be depend- 
ent upon Europe for our spinning material, and the fabrics that were 
exhibited by the last named are as good in their class as anything 
the European manufacturers have sent to us. But there is no need 
to dwell on this phase of the industry, as successful growth and the 
machine questions are the vital considerations. These are the sub- 
jects which the governments of many countries have been and are 
now interested in, to the end that the agricultural classes may be 
17136— No. 7 4 



50 

properly informed on the one hand and guarded from imposition on 
the other. The spinning and weaving of ramie are no longer experi- 
ments, and with these industries fairly established, as they are in 
Europe, improvements in machinery and processes to enhance the 
beauty of the products, to supply new forms of fabrics, and to reduce 
the cost of manufacture, will naturally follow, and the ramie industry 
will take its place with the linen industry and the other vast textile 
occupations which are such sources of wealth to the countries where 
they are carried on. 

A WORD TO FARMERS. 

While great progress has been made in the past few years, it can 
hardly be said that the time has come for ramie to take its place at 
once with the great staples as a money crop. But the time has come 
for farmers to experiment seriously with culture, in order to become 
familiar with the growth of the plant and to secure roots for future 
planting on a larger scale, for at present ramie roots are exceedingly 
scarce and hard to obtain. Let the grower make a beginning with one 
or more acres, studjnng the crop to learn the peculiarities of the plant 
and the special practice necessary for successful cultivation. Such a 
small beginning will give him a positive advantage, when the industry 
is fairly established, over the farmer who has no experience or knowl- 
edge of proper cultivation. 

In conclusion, there is urgent need of further carefully conducted 
experiments with ramie in this country under expert direction, in order 
to show the best results attainable and to ascertain conclusively the 
cost of the varied operations and the value of the crop to the farmer. 
But large appropriations in the hands of mere promoters, without 
experience and without practical knowledge of the requirements of 
the industry, or full appreciation of the obstacles that have hindered 
advancement, would be money worse than thrown away, for failure 
would result only in an injury to the industry. And the same may be 
said of Government aid to establish experimental spinning factories. 
There is no problem connected with the manufacturing of ramie that 
is difficult of solution, and ramie fabrics must ere long be produced 
by American industrial enterprise just as they are now produced in 
Europe. Culture and the machine question only invite our serious 
attention. 

And in this connection it may be said that if the Department of 
Agriculture has rendered no further service to the ramie interest of 
the South it has prevented farmers from making those costly mistakes 
which in every new enterprise undertaken by the uninformed have so 
often resulted in financial failure. 



APPENDIX A. 



THE RAMIE MACHINE TRIALS OF 1892. 

As a matter of record in the bulletins of the Fiber Investigations 
Series, the following report of the trial of ramie machines in New 
Orleans, in 1892, is republished from the Statistician's Eeport for Sep- 
tember and October of that year. Being the report of the special 
agent, it also embodies the special report of the board of experts 
appointed to conduct and witness these trials, which was prepared at 
the close of the trials. 

REPORT ON THE TRIALS. 

The interest attaching to the problem of economically decorticating the fiber of 
ramie, as is well known, has stimulated invention in both the New and Old worlds 
during a period of twenty-five years or more. The official trials in India, the trials 
of 1888 in Belgium, and of 1889 and 1891 in France, are matters of history. In our 
own country there have been many attempts to produce an economically successful 
machine, and in the past two or three years probabty ten machines have been brought 
to the attention of the public as possessing merit. 

The records of many private trials of American machines and of foreign machines 
brought to the country have been forwarded to the Office of Fiber Investigations of 
the Department during the past two years, but as the results did not give the infor- 
mation desired by the Department as to the capacity of the machines or regarding 
their utility in continuous operation, an official trial of American machines was 
deemed important. 

Arrangements for the trials in New Orleans, which were set for the last week of 
September, were begun almost a year ago. A contract was entered into with Col. 
Gustave A. Breaux,* of Oakbourne plantation, La Fayette, La., to grow 10 or more 
acres of ramie stalks to afford a sufficient supply for tests of a day's running of ten 
hours, instead of the usual tests of a few minutes, which demonstrate little regard- 
ing the ability of a machine to run continuously. 

The Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, Audubon Park, New Orleans, under the 
direction of Prof. W. C. Stubbs, was chosen as the place of trial, there being ample 
space and power for the purpose, which could not be well secured nearer to the sup- 
ply of growing ramie. On July 1, 1892, the following circular was sent out to 
machine inventors, and others, interested in a trial of decorticating machines: 

United States Department of Agriculture, 

Office of the Assistant Secretary, 

Washing ton, D. C, July 1, 1892. 
Dear Sir: Arrangements are well under way for the trials of machines and proc- 
esses for the decortication of ramie, to be held at Audubon Park New Orleans, the 
last week in September, 1892. 

At these trials each machine or process entered will be required to work at least 
ten hours, or at the discretion of the board of experts. The working will be either 
upon green stripped stalks, green stalks with leaves, or upon dried stalks, or upon 

* Colonel Breaux had 30 acres planted in ramie at Oakbourne. 

51 

■ 



52 

all three forms, according to the t5 r pe of the machine. The running will he con- 
ducted by Special Agent Charles Richards Dodge, in charge of liber investigations, 
assisted by the board of experts appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, each 
company entering the contest to supply the necessary atteudants for its own machine, 
and bear all expense of transporting machinery to and from the place of trial, and 
the expense of operation, save as noted below. 

The Department will supply the ramie stalks, the power, and floor space only, the 
machine owners to furnish necessary belting and a split pulley for their power con- 
nection. Size of shaft, 2-f| inches. A foreman will be appointed by the Depart- 
ment, who will have charge of the power, and who will assign space and attend to 
all mechanical details. 

It will be advisable to place machines in position some days prior to the official 
trials in order to have everything in perfect running order, as there can be no delays. 
The Department will not furnish stalks for private trials made by owners of machines ; 
these can be obtained, however, from Oakbourne plantation, where the Department's 
supply is being grown, at the Government rate per ton. Address Col. Gustave 
Breaux, No. 5 Carondelet street, New Orleans, La. 

The Department will take possession of the product of decortication until after 
the official weighings, reserving the right to hold such portion of it as it may desire 
for further use and experiment. 

Each machine will stand on its own merits in the trial, and be given credit for 
actual performance without relation to other machines, and without attempt at 
classification other than as refers to the class of material upon which it operates, 
and the final report will be made on this basis. No credit of time for stoppage for 
readjustment, fouling of the working parts, or breakage will be allowed, the run- 
ning to be timed by the watch. 

Special points to be considered in judging merit are: 

Continuous running, quantity of cleaned fiber turned out, and quality of ribbons, 
or degummed fiber. First-quality ribbons are those perfectly delignated and decor- 
ticated, untangled, and without bruises, or in a state more nearly resembling the 
China grass of commerce. It should be noted in this connection that poorly cleaned 
ribbons, with portions of the wood adhering, and with more or less of the brown 
epidermis intact, can not be economically treated in the final processes of degumming 
and rendering the fiber fit for spinning. Bruised ribbons, likewise, entail similar 
loss through large percentage of waste in final manipulation. 

In entering your machine please reply to the following questions, an early response 
being solicited : 

(1) What is the name of your company? 

(2) By what name is your machine designated? 

(3) What horse power does it require? 

(4) What class of material is it specially constructed to work upon? 

(a) Green stalks with leaves. 

(b) Green stalks stripped of leaves. 

(c) Dried stalks. 

(5) How many attendants does the machine require, including those who handle 
the stalks and remove the fiber? 

(6) What actual floor space does the machine (or apparatus for process) require? 

(7) Give in brief a description of the construction of the machine or apparatus, 
stating what it is claimed to accomplish. 

(8) Do you agree to all the conditions as set forth in the above circular? 
Shipments may be made to the Sugar Experiment Station, Prof. W. C. Stubbs, 

director, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La. Please use the inclosed official envelope 
in your reply. Any further information will be given by letter upon application. 
I remain, 

Respectfully, Edwin Willits, Assistant Secretary. 

Four entries only were received in response to this circular, and but three machines 
were placed in position at Audubon Park, the fourth machine not having been com- 
pleted in time for the trials. The special report of the board of experts appointed 
by the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct and witness the trials, is herewith pre- 
sented: 

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EXPERTS. 

The official trials of ramie machines, under the auspices of the Office of Fiber Inves- 
tigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, set for the last week in 
September at Audubon Park, New Orleans, came off on the 30th of September, and 
included trials upon jute stalks as well as upon stalks of ramie. 

Three machines were entered for trial, as follows: The Kauffman machine, by the 
Kauflinan Fiber Company, of New Orleans, La. ; the Felix Fremerey decorticator, by 



53 

the Felix Fremerey Decorticator Company, of Galveston, Tex. ; the fiber delignating 
machine (known as the J. J. Green machine) of the United States Fiber Company, of 
Versailles, Ky. 

The Kauffman machine. — According to the entry of this machine it requires 15 horse- 
power; it works upon green stalks stripped of leaves and upon dried stalks. Four 
attendants are required to run it; floor space occupied, 6 by 14 feet. The machine is 
termed a decorticator for ramie, jute, and hemp. In operation it is stated that the 
stalks, after being brought to the feeding table and presented to the machine, first 
pass through three brass crushing rolls about 8 inches in diameter, then, being 
deflected, pass downward through a powerful brake arranged with two slats work- 
ing into three by means of two pairs of eccentrics; thence to reversible slat beaters 
(of wood), their action being controlled by a lever operated by the foot of the feeder. 
From this point the material passes down through two rolls covered by carriers or 
aprons of canvas, moving horizontally, the fiber to be removed by the hands of an 
attendant at the opposite end of the machine. 

The Fremerey machine. — In the entry of this machine about 5 horsepower is stated. 
The machine is arranged to work upon green stalks, either stripped or with the leaves, 
and upon dry stalks. It occupies a floor space of about 5 by 18 feet. The machine 
requires five attendants, three of whom may be boys. There is a feeder, with iron 
grippers, that seizes the stalks automatically at the platform, bringing them before a 
pair of rollers, the lower one grooved and the upper one provided' with rubber rings 
in order to carry the stalks to the knives. The second pair of rollers consists of an 
upper roller provided with circular knives, and the lower roller provided with grooves. 
Then comes the third pair of rollers, the upper one of which has slightly flattened 
corrugations around the circumference of the roller for deflecting the two halves of 
the stalk after being slit, the lower one being smooth. The fourth pair of rollers 
are both smooth and aie for the purpose of crushing in the dry state and pulverizing 
the resinous matter. Then follow three pairs of fluted rollers for the purpose of 
breaking the woody matter into fragments one-half to three-quarters of an inch in 
length. These are followed by a pair of beater cylinders, called a double-acting 
beater, with steel plates or winglets, for the purpose of brushing the broken wood 
from the ribbons. At the end of the machine is an iron carrier which carries the 
cleaned ribbons out of the machine, where it is taken by the operators. 

The J. J. Green machine. — Ten horsepower is named as the power required to drive 
this machine. The entry states that it works upon dried stalks (but it is also 
expected to work green stalks with or without leaves). Five attendants are required 
for full capacity, three of whom may bo boys ; it occupies a floor space of 8 by 12 
feet. In the operation of the machine the stalks are put into the machine at the top, 
where they are grasped by a pair of hard rolls that crushes all to one size and presses 
them into a pair of small diameter gum rolls placed very near together. 

Opposite the axis center of these runs a band knife, which splits the stalks from 
end to end as they are pressed upon it by the gum rolls. The stalks being now 
divided into halves, the machine thereafter operates on each separately, one-half of 
the stalk passing out on each side of the machine. Immediately beneath each gum 
roll is a stationary bar, called the stripping bar, around whose square corner the half 
stalk is turned, the fiber side being next the bar. Beneath this bar is a stationary 
shaft carrying a loose sprocket wheel on each end, and a stationary bar resting about 
1-J inches below the bar next the roll. Over the sprocket wheels run link belts that 
have their other bearing about 2 feet farther out from this shaft. These chain belts 
are connected by steel rods placed some 6 inches apart. 

Immediately behind the gum roll is another of these similarly constructed chain 
aprons which runs as a companion apron with the first described. When running, 
the rods of one of these aprons come just in front of those of the other, and both 
are held in the same plane by bars above and below them which extend from one of 
their shafts to the other. These aprons run faster than the feed, so that when about 
6 inches of stalk has fed below the stripping bar their respective rods grasp it 
between them and produce a friction pull sufficient to thereafter strip the ribbon 
from the wood at the corner of the stripping bar. Thereafter, when about every 3 
inches of stripped wood projects below the stripping bar, one of the rods of the 
lower apron, passing between the stripping bar and the previously described bar 
below, snaps off this 3 inches and restores to the ribbon any adhering ends of fiber 
strands. The wood drops into a hopper beneath, where a carrier removes it to outer 
end of machine. 

The ribbons are thus delivered on each side of machine to outer chain aprons, 
which bring the two halves together again, and finally deliver them straight and 
with even ends to the receiving attendant. 



54 

RULES GOVERNING THE TRIALS. 

The special rules and instructions governing the conduct of trials were promul- 
gated by the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. Edwin Willits, and are as 
follows : 

No machine will be tested which has not been formally entered by the 24th day of September, with 
answers to questions in circular of conditions of July 1. 

The tests will be made upon green stripped stalks, green stalks with leaves, and upon dried stalks. " 

The tests upon green stripped stalks shall be for ten hours' continuous running with no allowance 
of time for stoppage for readjustment, or for cleaning when working parts have become gummed or 
otherwise fouled, or for breakage. Baring the noon intermission, should ic be necessary, no readjust- 
ment, cleaning of parts, or repair, other than oiling, will he allowed, otherwise the test for "continu- 
ous running" must be considered for five hours instead of ten. Product will be weighed at end of 
each five hours' run. 

The tests upon dried stalks shall be for five hours' continuous running, the rules relating to time 
allowance to apply as for the trials on green stripped stalks. 

The tests upon green stalks with leaves shall be with ton lots of stalks to the amount of one or more 
tons, at the discretion of the board of experts, the running to be continuous, the rules relating to 
time allowance to apply as for the trials on green stripped stalks. 

All stalks used in tests shall be first weighed and the weight recorded, and all wet ribbons shall be 
weighed at the close of each test iu the condition in which they are received from the machine. This 
rule does not apply to chemical or other process decortication where the cleaning and degumming is a 
continuous operation, the final product to be weighed in both wet and dry states. 

All ribbons or other material produced will be considered the property of the Government and must 
not be removed or in any way interfered with until the close of the trials, the Department reserving 
the right through its representatives to retain all the material for subsequent test and possible 
manufacture. 

Each machine will stand on its own merits in the trial and be given credit for actual performance 
without relation to any other machines without attempt at classification other than as refers to the 
class of material upon which it operates, and the final report will he made on this basis. 

The board of experts appointed by this Department to conduct and witness the trials is as follows : 
Charles Richards Dodge, special agent, chairman; Talma Drew, secretary ; Dr. Thomas Taylor; Prof. 
"W. C. Stubbs ; Prof. S. M. Tracy. 

The superintendent of power and space is Prof. R. T. Burwell, who will attend to all details of this 
portion of the work. 

The board is empowered to deal with any questions which may arise during the trials, and its 
decision by a majority vote of its members will be final. 

The 10 acres of ramie especially cultivated at La Fayette for the trials were 
reported to he in good condition, and instructions for rapid cutting and prompt ship- 
ment were early given in detail by the Department. The ramie stalk produced at 
Oakbourne plantation appeared upon careful examination, after having been received 
at Audubon Park, to have been properly grown and suitable for the tests, but owing 
to delays in the transportation (which were not expected by us, and which we had 
hoped were amply provided against) of the 150 miles from La Fayette to Audubon 
Park the material was heated and spoiled iu the transit. One car was loaded Sep- 
tember 19 the other September 24, and both were received September 28. This delay 
prevented carrying out the instructions of the Assistant Secretary as relating to time 
tests, the ten-hour trials having been arranged to begin at 7 o'clock on the morning 
of the 27th of September. The Oakbourne supply, green stripped stalks and dry 
stalks, having been rendered worthless for testing the machines, as above stated, a 
quantity of about two tons of green stripped stalks and stalks with leaves was 
secured from the plantation of Captain Willet, 2 miles beyond Algiers, across the 
Tiver, and brought by teams to Audubon Park. These stalks, and the stalks from a 
plat of jute growing on the farm of the experiment station, supplied the material 
used in trials which subsequently took place September 30. 

TRIALS ON GREEN STRIPPED RAMIE. 

The first trial was with the Kauffman machine, 500 pounds of green stripped stalks 
having been weighed out for the test. Of this amount 332 pounds of stalks were 
run through the machine iu forty-two minutes, when the machine clogged. The 
result in wet ribbons was 88 pounds, and 168 pounds of stalks remained unworked, 
owing to the inability of the machine to proceed further. (See tabular statement.) 

The second trial was with the J. J. Green machine, 500 pounds of green stripped 
ramie stalks having been weighed out for the test. Of this quantity 225 pounds of 
stalks had been delignated in one hour and thirty-five minutes, producing 57^ pounds 
of wet ribbons, 275 pounds of green stalks remaining unworked, owing to the ina- 
bility of the machine to proceed further. (See tabular statement.) 



55 

Mr. Frenierey declined to enter this trial after 500 pounds of green stripped ramie 
stalks had been weighed out, claiming that the stalks were too uneven in size, the 
construction of his machine requiring medium stalks. It should he noted that a 
very small percentage of the stalks secured by the board from the Willet plantation 
were of young slender growth and of short length. 

TRIALS ON JUTE STALKS WITH LEAVES. 

The first trial was with the Fremerey machine, 100 pounds of freshly cut jute stalks 
with leaves having been weighed out for the test. These were run through in thirty- 
one minutes, giving 37f pounds of wet ribbons. (See tabular statement.) 

The second trial was with the Kauffman machine, 100 pounds of freshly cut jute 
stalks with leaves having been weighed out for the test. This quantity was run 
through in twenty minutes, the result being 32 pounds of wet ribbons. 

TABULAR STATEMENT. ■ 

The following tabular statement of the results of the trials, with explanatory 
notes, is presented : 

Green stripped ramie. 



Test. 


Machine. 


Stalks. 


Time of 
test. 


Wet rib- 
bons. 


No. of 
men. 


First 




Pounds. 
332 
225 


Hrs. Mvn. 

a 42 

c.l 35 


Pounds. 
6 88 
rf57J 


3 






5 









Jute with leaves. 



Third | Fremerey. 

Fourth I Kauflman 




a This covers the time from starting the machine and the moment when it became clogged and 
stopped. The upper waste apron gave trouble almost at the beginning of the test and stojjped in 
fourteen minutes, after which the waste carried by tbis apron was removed by band. The ribbon 
delivery apron clogged and stopped in forty two minutes. After forty-six minutes, spent in overhaul- 
ing the machine, the operator made an effort to proceed when it was found that one of the eccentrics 
was heated and cut: the upper aprons still refused to work, aud the test was abandoned. 

6 Wet ribbons badly tangled and broken, and showing a large percentage of woody waste. The 
hurds contained a small percentage of waste fiber. 

tin this time there were three stops, aggregating sixty-seven minutes, to clean and readjust the 
working parts of the machine, the knife failing to split the stalks; the test after the last stop was 
abandoned. 

dThe machine gave a smoothly delignated ribbon, with small percentage of woody waste, save in a 
few stalks, in each instance, just before the machine became clogged. 

eThere were two stops, aggregating eighteen minutes, to readjust the machine. 

J Smooth ribbons, practically free from woody waste. 

(/Ribbons well delignated, with very small percentage of woody waste. The fiber occasionally is 
somewhat broken. 

The tests upon dry ramie stalks were abandoned, as the material dried for the 
purpose at Oakbourne was found in too damp a condition to work as dry ramie, 
owing to contact in the car with a quantity of green stalks during the ten days the 
car was in transit. 

After the results of the trials with green stripped stalks had been shown, the trials 
upon green stalks with leaves were necessarily abandoned, and a quantity of mate- 
rial, both stripped and unstripped, was turned over to the director of the experiment 
station for such future use as might be desired by the station authorities. 

In presenting the above statements and figures the board of experts makes no 
attempt to estimate the run of any machine for a day of ten hours, based upon the 
results of the trials as above, believing that such figures can only be misleading, and 
that the official reports of all such trials should present the actual facts brought out 
by the operation of each machine under trial. 

Chas. Kichards Dodge, Chairman. 

Talma Drew, Secretary. 

Thomas Taylor. 

W. C. Stubbs. 

S. M. Tracy. 



56 

CONCLUSIONS. 

The longest running at the Paris trials of 1889, which were attended by me, was 
thirty-three minutes, and the largest quantity of stalks cleaned by any one machine 
in one trial 132 pounds, while the shortest running was for a minute and a half, and 
the smallest weight of stalks 154- pounds. In point of fact, the strength of a machine 
and its actual capacity can not he demonstrated by such short trials, and especially 
when tbe machine goes smoothly through with the small amount of work allotted to 
it. The special point was therefore made, in arranging for the first trials of Ameri- 
can machines, that the test should be for xen hours. And it is to be regretted that 
this part of the programme could not at least have been entered upon by the board 
of experts in the trials at New Orleans, though, in view of the results of tbe two 
trials, with 500 jjounds of rarnie stalks, when the defects m the machines were shown 
which caused the abandonment of the tests before all the stalks had been run 
through, it is probable that the final results would not have been far different. 

While the figures for a day's work, based ou the results of short running, are 
wholly misleading, it is interesting to note that the output of the Kauffman machine, 
during the forty-two minutes of continuous work before it clogged, represents 4,743 
pounds of green stalks in ten hours of continuous action, or a little over 2 tons, with 
an output of 1,257 pounds of wet ribbons, equal to about 420 pounds of dry ribbons, 
which weight would be considerably reduced after the loose hurds and woody mat- 
ter remaining in the ribbons produced by this machine had been eliminated. 

In like manner, were the J. J. Green machine to run continuously for ten hours, 
turning out ribbons at the rate of speed shown when in actual operation (that is, 
deducting the sixty-seven minutes spent in cleaning and readjustment), the output 
would have shown a capacity of 4,821 pounds of stalks and 1,232 pounds of wet rib- 
bons, equal to about 410 pounds of dry ribbons. But, as shown, both machines were 
unable to finish the 500 pounds of stalks weighed out to each for the trial. 

The results of the New Orleans trials are satisfactory as far as they have demon- 
strated the status of the machines entered, and established an American record that 
gives a starting point for future comparison, as the results of other trials are made 
known. It is to be regretted, however, that a larger number of machines were not 
represented. In this report comparisons can not be made with the best foreign 
machines though I shall endeavor to cover the whole ground in a special report, 
Bulletin No. 5, Fiber Investigations, to be issued at an early date. 

One point, demonstrated beyond all doubt at the recent trials, is the perishable 
nature of green ramie, either stripped of its leaves or unstripped, and the experience 
recorded emphasizes the importance of taking the machine into the field where 
decortication in the green state is carried on. Two or three small bundles of ramie 
stalks with leaves, cut and tied up on the Willet plantation before noon of the 29th, 
had begun to show signs of heating on the morning of the 30th, though the stripped 
stalks and remainder of the unstripped stalks were in perfect condition. 

It is an interesting point for future experiment to determine w r hether ramie stalks 
can be perfectly dried in best condition for machine working in Louisiana, owing to 
the greater humidity of this section compared with other sections of the country 
suitable to ramie culture. 

It would seem from niy observations in Louisiana that slight kiln-drying will be 
necessary, after at least ten days of sun-drying in the field, in order that the stalks 
may be made sufficiently brittle for the machines to separate the woody matter 
readily. 

And the question of profitable cultivation is another problem which can be settled 
only by careful experiments on a large scale. 

As has been previously stated in reports of this Department, the future of the 
ramie industry in America depends upon a careful consideration and understanding 
of the whole situation, studied connectedly — culture, stripping of the fiber, and the 
preparation of the fiber for manufacture. 



57 
APPENDIX B. 



THE RAMIE MACHINE TRIALS OF 1894. 

The second official trials of ramie machines in the United States was 
held in New Orleans in October, 1894, under the auspices of the Loui- 
siana Agricultural Experiment Station, Prof. W. C. Stubbs, director, 
although the special agent in charge of fiber investigations was author- 
ized by the Department to witness the machine tests and make a report. 

The ramie stalks used in the trials were grown from roots planted by 
Professor Stubbs on the grounds of the experiment station early in the 
season, the yield of the second cutting being at the rate of 5 to 6 tons 
of green unstripped stalks per acre. 

The special rules and instructions governing the conduct of the trials 
were promulgated by the committee of experts appointed by the director 
of the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, and are as follows: 

RULES GOVERNING THE TRIALS. 

The tests will be made upon green stalks with and without leaves, and upon dried 
stalks. 

The tests shall be for continuous running, with no allowance of time for stoppage 
for readjustment, for cleaning the working parts when they have become gummed 
or otherwise fouled, or for breakages. 

The test upon dried stalks shall be for 500 pounds or more, at the discretion of the 
committee, continuous running, the rules relating to time allowance to apply as for 
the trials on green stalks. 

The tests for green stalks with leaves shall be for 500 pounds or more, at the dis- 
cretion of the committee, the running to be continuous, the rules relating to the 
allowance of time to apply as on the trials for green stalks. 

All stalks to be used in the test shall be first weighed and the weight recorded, 
aud all ribbons shall be weighed at the close of each test in the condition in which 
they are received from the machine. 

All ribbons and other material produced will be considered the property of the 
Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station, and must not be removed or in any way inter- 
fered with until the close of the trials ; the station reserving the right to transfer 
any portion of this material to the United States Department of Agriculture for 
additional tests and possible manufacture. 

Each machine will stand on its own merits in the trial, and be given credit for 
actual performance without relation to any other machine and without attempt at 
classification other than refers to the class of material upon which it operates, and 
the final report will be made on this basis. 

The committee of experts appointed by the station to conduct and 
witness the trials is as follows : 

Charles Richards Dodge, special agent in charge of fiber investi- 
gations, United States Department of Agriculture; Prof. S. M. Tracy, 
director Mississippi Experiment Station; Dr. W. C. Stubbs, director 
Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station. 



58 

The superintendent of power and space is Prof. R. T. Burwell, who 
will attend to all details of this portion of the work. The committee 
is empowered to deal with any question that may arise during the 
trials, and a decision of a majority vote of its members will be flual. 
On October 3 the trials began. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 

Two machines were entered for trial, one by tlie Textile Syndicate, No. 72 Fins-" 
bury Pavement, London, England, for green decortication, the other by Samuel JB. 
Allison, of New Orleans, for dry decortication, Mr. Allison being the inventor and 
patentee. 

It was intended that these trials should be held in September, but difficulties 
encountered in the custom-house in the eutry of the English machine delayed them 
until the first week in October. The ramie used for the trial of the Textile Syndi-' 
cate machine (fig. 6) was grown upon the grounds of the Louisiana Sugar Experi- 
ment Station, and was cut as used. The trials occurred upon the 3d, 4th, and 10th 
of October. On October 3 the Textile Syndicate machine was tested directly for 




y3** 



00** 



Fig. 6. — Textile Syndicate decorticator. 

quantity, 1,000 pounds of green stalks with leaves, freshly cut, being run through 
the machine in one hour five and one-half minutes, yielding 196 pounds of wet rib- 
bons, giving 56 pounds of dried fiber. 

On October 4 another test was given this machine for both quantity and quality. 
Five hundred pounds of green ramie stalks with leaves were worked in twenty-four 
minutes, and yielded 116^ pounds of wet ribbons, giving 301 pounds of dry fiber. 
The work of decortication appeared to be satisfactorily accomplished, but in the 
absence of a carrier to deliver the ribbon, the fiber was so badly tangled in the deliv- 
ery as to seriously impair its commercial value. The carrier supplied with the 
machine on the first trial failed utterly to perform any work, and therefore in the 
second trial was not used., but instead the fiber was removed by hand as fast as dis- 



59 

charged from the machine. To test the capacity of the machine for thorough work, 
five runnings with varying numbers of stalks were made as follows: 

Run 1. Six stalks; filter straight and delivered in good order. 

Run 2. Ten stalks; fiber straight and delivered in good order. 

Run 3. Sixteen stalks ; fiber straight and delivered in good order. 

Run 4. Twenty -five stalks; slightly tangled. 

Run 5. Thirty-six stalks; badly tangled. 

In the performance of these experiments, the fiber was removed carefully from the 
machine by hand and three tests of each were made. In the trials three men, not 
counting the engineer, were required to attend the machine while running. 

TESTS WITH JUTE AND COTTON STALKS ON THE SAME MACHINE. 

Eighty pounds of Corchorus capsularis were put through the machine in six and 
three-fourths minutes, giving 39 pounds of wet ribbon; secondly, 54 pounds of 
Corchorus olitorius were run through the machine in three and one-fourth minutes, 
giving 21^ pounds of wet ribbon. The ribbons of both varieties contained a 
considerable amount of wood in splinters. The Corchorus capsuJaris gave the best 
and cleanest ribbon. 

A small quantity of the limbs of India cotton was run through this machine, but 
the results were not sufficiently interesting to continue the experiment. 

THE ALLISON MACHINE TRIALS. 

The Allison machine was not entered for trial until October 2. A preliminary run 
was attempted on October 3, when it was discovered that its foundation lacked 
solidity, causing too great vibration for safe running to full capacity of machine; 
therefore the official trials of this machine were postponed until the 10th and 11th 
of October, iu order to give time to lay the proper foundation. By October 10 Mr. 
Allison having placed his machine in position with a good foundation, trials were 
begun on October 10 and continued through the 10th and 11th. To this machine 
both engines of the sugarhouse were attached, and then not enough power was 
given for its maximum capacity of work. 

The first trial was on October 10 with 112 pounds of dried ramie stalks without 
leaves, some of which were badly broken. These stalks were cut from Captain 
Willet's field, August 1, and represented the growth from June 6, at which time the 
held was cut. It had been exposed to the August gale, taken up and dried, and put 
under shelter to ascertain the damage done by it. The men required to work the 
machine were as follows: Feeder, passer, apron man, engineer, and a man to hold 
down "idler " which worked the beaters. Another man would be needed to x>ut the 
ramie on the feeding apron if continuous running were required. The trial began 
at 3.30 p. m. ; the machine ran five and three-fourth minutes, and choked from over- 
feeding; took till 5 o'clock to clean the machine; slightky choked at 5.35; started 
again at 5.42, and finished at 5.51 p. m. Fiber, 30 pounds. Total time of trial, two 
hours and eleven minutes; actual running time, fifty-two and three-fourths minutes. 

In this trial the beater was wrapped five times, and was stopped and cleaned by 
hand without stopping the engine; both the cutter engine and centrifugal engine of 
the sugarhouse were required to run the machine, and then with insufficient power. 
Fiber delivered iii somewhat tangled condition, but well cleaned of wood. This is 
equivalent to 1,273 pounds of dry ramie stalks in ten hours, if the machine were run 
continuously. Per cent of fiber, 26.79, or 535.8 pounds per ton of 2,000 pounds of 
dry ramie. 

Trial No. 2 was on stripped green ramie stalks, with saturation, October 11. In 
this trial, which began at 2.52| p. m., saturation was practiced by using water from 
the tower of the sugarhouse and passing it through a perforated pipe running the 
length of the top rollers. The following are the results : Three hundred and eighty 
pounds of stripped stalks were obtained from 655 pounds of unstripped stalks. 



60 

engaging the attention of a feeder, passer, carrier, apron man, "idler" man, and ma- 
chinist; finished at3.42i; time, fifty minutes. Beater stopped three times to remove 
fiber without stopping engine. Some wood remained on the fiber, which was too wet 
to weigh at once. It was handled with great care, dried on ropes in the sun, and 
weighed October 15. Result, 25£ pounds of dry fiber. 

Trial No. 3 was on 234 pounds of unstripped green stalks. Began at 4.23 p. m. ; 
stopped at 4.40 p. m. ; time, seventeen minutes. No stop was made, but the knife 
was used to cut the fiber wrapped around the corrugated rollers. Started without 
saturation, but soon had to use it, a number of leaves adhering to fiber; consider- 
able wood left in it. Work done equal to 8,259 pounds of green unstripped ramie 
in ten hours. Treated as No. 2 and weighed October 15, giving 12 pounds dried fiber. 

Trial No. 4 was oil 100 pounds of stripped stalks tested for quantity, without sat- 
uration, and began at 5.28 p. m. ; stopped at 5.38 p. m. One stop of beaters, two 
minutes. Yield, 42 pounds of wet ribbons. Treated like No. 2 and weighed October 
15, giving 6 pounds dried fiber. 

Trial No. 5 was for quantity upon green unstripped stalks without saturation, 100 
pounds being used. Began at 5.47 p.m.; stopped at 5.52 p. m; time, five minutes. 
Fiber after being dried weighed 5 pounds. This is equivalent to 1,200 pounds of 
green unstripped ramie per hour. 

In the experiments upon the green unstripped ramie, without saturation, the 
machine had a tendency to clog ; with saturation this difficulty was avoided. This 
machine is large and is better adapted to a central house to which ramie is hauled 
and worked than to field experiments. 

TRIALS WITH THE ALLISON MACHINE NO. 2. 

Soon after the trials given above, Captain Allison informed the committee that he 
had a smaller improved machine which he would be ready to test before the end of 
the season, and on Tuesday, December 18, a trial was made on this machine in which 
the number of parts of the large machine are greatly reduced. (See fig. 7.) 

It consists of a series of pressure rollers, reciprocating brakes, rotary scutching 
and combing devices combined with feed and off bearing carriers mounted on a strong 
cast-iron frame. The ramie stalks are fed into the machine by means of an endless 
feed carrier. The first set of rollers are corrugated, and crush and split the stems; 
the second are smooth and crush the stalks. Back of the latter is a deflecting plate 
that turns the feed downward when it meets again the action of a third set of smooth 
crushing rollers, which further reduce the stems and firmly hold and feed gradually 
to reciprocating brake and scutching blades, where it is caught by a set of grip 
rollers. The rear end of the fibrous curtain as it descends is thrown out upon a set of 
deflecting plates and gradually drawn downward and one subjected to the action of a 
set of scutching and combing cylinders, where the rear end is again subjected to the 
action of the first set of scutching cylinders. The fibrous curtain descends in a per- 
pendicular, and both sides are acted upon, while the rear end as it descends is sub- 
jected to the action of both sets of scutching and combing cylinders ; and it is deliv- 
ered to the off bearing carrier in ribbons. 

Official tests were made upon dry ramie and green ramie with leaves. Besides 
these tests, a continuous run of several hours was made on badly frosted stripped 
stems. On account of the humidity of this climate it is very difficult to dry ramie 
stalks, and hence the material worked on was far from being in a desirable condition. 
The green stalks had also suffered from frost and the fiber injured in strength. Under 
these disadvantages the machine was tested. 

Test No. 1 was upon 118 pounds of dried stalks. Total time of running, twenty- 
two minutes ; time actually lost by beaters wrapping, four minutes ; net time actually 
used in work, eighteen minutes. At such a rate it would work 322 pounds of dry 
ramie per hour; 3,220 pounds per day of ten hours. If the trouble with the beatei's 
could be avoided, the daily work would equal 3,920 pounds. The 118 pounds of dry 
ramie gave 22 pounds dry ribbons. 



61 

Test No. 2 was on 80 pounds of green ramie with leaves, which were run through 
the machine in five minutes, this being equivalent to 960 pounds per hour, or 9,600 
pounds per day of ten hours. The 80 pounds yielded 20 pounds wet ribbons. Besides 
these tests a continuous run was made on badly frosted ramie. 

During the experiments tried above, considerable trouble was occasioned by the 
beaters wrapping and throwing the fiber to the rear. In taking down the machine 
after the trials, it was found that in its construction from drawings a mistake had 




Fig. 7. — Allison machine, No. 2. 

been made in placing the lower cylinders, attached to the scutching and combing 
devices, at least 2 inches out of the perpendicular, which defect had occasioned the 
trouble mentioned. This machine is on the same principle as the larger one, but 
simpler in construction and requiring less than one-half the power to run it. The 
feed and crushing rollers are at the same time 6 inches longer, thus increasing the 
capacity of the machine. With the material at hand and the defect in construction 
of the machine, the work done may be considered good. 



REVIEW OF THE WORK DONE. 

The work accomplished this year is far in advance of that performed by the 
machines on trial at this place two years ago. At that time none of the machines 
were capable of running without obstruction. In the trial of three machines there 
has been no disposition on the part of either to fail to work. The Textile Syndicate 
machine is easily run by a 4-horse power engine, and is capable of treating any quan- 
tity of stalks that can be fed it, without choking or stopping. Its greatest fault 
lies in the fact that it delivers the ribbons in a tangled, matted condition, requiring 
a large amount of time and patience to straighten them; besides at the end of each 



62 

fiber there was a piece of adherent wood which the machine failed to remove. The 
filament of the back is partly scraped, but not completely. These are serious objec- 
tions, but by no means insuperable, as it is believed that mechanical skill can easily 
overcome these defects. 

The large Allison machine delivers its fiber in good condition and better cleaned, 
but its immense size, and the power that it takes to run it, preclude the possibility 
of its being used in the field upon small experiments. In the small machine the 
size is considerably reduced, without destroying its efficiency, in order to adapt its 
work to the field, and to be run by a smaller power. 

In addition to the official trials herein reported, the committee witnessed a large 
amount of work done by these machines, which afforded them an opportunity of 
making a careful study of the machine problem. 

The committee desires to call special attention to the fact that in trials on green 
ramie the stalks were not denuded of leaves, while in the trials of two years ago, 
the stalks used by the three machines under test were required to be stripped. The 
Textile Syndicate machine without and the Allison machine with saturation, in the 
present test ran continuously without gumming, fouling, or breaking in any part, 
and gave evidence of ability to meet any demand in continuous running that might 
be made upon them. 

It is, therefore, with pleasure that we report great progress in ramie machines 
since our last test; but neither of these machines are yet ready for successful opera- 
tion on a small scale by farmers and planters ; although with modifications that have 
already been suggested, and in part carried out, they will do far better work. The 
outlook is therefore promising. 

Chas. Richards Dodge, 
Special Agent, in charge of Fiber Investigations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

Wm. C. Stubbs, 
Director of Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station. 
S. M. Tracy, 
Director of Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

In sifting the evidence, after a careful perusal of the above report, 
neither the English machine nor the Allison machine ~$o. 1 should be 
regarded as fulfilling the requirements of a successful decorticator for 
the production of commercial fiber, the one because of the imperfect 
fiber it turned out, the other on account of its great weight, the number 
of attendants required, and the tendency of the wet fiber to wrap upon 
the cylinders. The action of the Allison machine ISTo. 2 was much bet- 
ter, but the quality of the fiber should still be considerably improved, 
always bearing in mind, of course, that no machine-cleaned fiber will 
approach in appearance or cleanness the hand-cleaned China grass or 
commercial ramie. As stated in the body of the report, the considera- 
tions of quality and output are of equal importance. Output is depend- 
ent upon the machine alone — for a machine must turn out fiber in pay- 
ing quantity to meet the requirements of a successful decorticator. 
Quality, however, is dependent upon both the machine and the cultiva- 
tor, for immature or badly grown stalks will not produce good fiber, no 
matter how perfect the machine; and, on the other hand, an imperfectly 
constructed machine may produce low-grade fiber from the best of 
stalks. In this connection I regret that in the trials above recorded 



63 

the stalks operated upon were first year's growth, and hardly proper 
materia] for a quality test, and it is my sincere wish that another trial 
be held in 1895, when the perfected machines, and possibly other decor- 
ticators, may appear, the trials to be held upon second year's growth, 
which could not be obtained for the 1894 trials. The English machine 
has been modified and improved, as I have already stated. Mr. Allison 
has constructed an entirely new and improved machine which will be 
tested this season in the field on large areas. 



c 



018 532 226 9 



